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rOOTE,  M  D. 

lelmoai    Ave., 
(Iphia,  Pa. 


//fRS^.\* 


UNIVERSITY  OF  MASSACHUSETTS 
LIBRARY 

SPECIAL 
COLLECTIONS 

SF 
375 
L78 
1809 


TREAStJRt  ROOM 


ESSAY 

ON 

SHEEP; 

THEIR  VARIETIES— ACCOUNT  OF  THE 
MERINOES  OF  SPAIN,  FRANCE,  &c. 

nEFLECTIONS  ON  THE  BEST  METHOD  OF  TREATING  THEM, 
AND  RAISING  A  FLOCK  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES; 

TOGETHER    WITH 

MISCELLANEOUS  REMARKS 

ON 

SHEEP  AND  WOOLLEN  MANUFACTURES. 


BY  ROBERT  R.  LIVINGSTON,  LL.  D. 

President  of  the  Society  tor  the  Promotion  of  Useful  Arts,  Member  of  the 

American  Philosophical  Society,    President  of  the  American  Society 

of  Fine  Arts,  Corresponding  Member  of  the  Agricultural 

Society  of  the  Seine,    Honorary  Member  of  the 

Agricultural  Society  of  Dutchess  County. 


printed  by  Order  of  the  Legislahire  of  tJie  State  of  J^eiv-York. 


J\^EW-YORK: 

PRINTED  13Y  T.  AND  J.  SWORDS, 

No.  160  Pearl-Street, 


180C» 


43  io.1 

L7_4 

TREASUHE  RO0?i 


State  of  New- York. 

In  Senate^  March  3d,  1809. 

WHEREAS  the  Honourable  Robert  R.  Livingston 
has  laid  before  the  Society  for  the  Promotion  of  Useful 
Arts,  a  manuscript  Treatise  on  Sheep,  which  the  Society- 
judge  eminently  calculated  to  diffuse  general  information 
as  to  the  best  mode  of  raising  and  managing  the  Merino 
breed  of  Sheep,  from  his  own  experience,  and  from  the 
best  treatises  on  that  subject;  and  whereas,  in  the  opinion 
of  the  said  Society,  the  agricultural  interest  of  this  State 
would  be  greatly  promoted  by  the  printing  and  circulating 
the  said  manuscript — 

Therefore  Resolved^  (if  the  Honourable  the  Assembly 
concur  herein)  That  one  thousand  copies  of  the  said  manu- 
script be  printed  in  such  manner  as  the  said  Society  shall 
direct,  and  that  they  be  distributed  in  the  same  manner  as 
the  Laws  and  Journals  are  by  law  directed  to  be  distri- 
buted, and  that  each  member  of  the  said  Society  shall  also 
be  entitled  to  one  copy;  and  that  the  remaining  copies  shall 
be  at  the  disposal  of  the  said  Society;  and  that  the  Legis- 
lature will  by  law  make  provision  for  the  printing  of  the 
said  manuscript. 

By  order  of  the  Senate. 

S.  VISSCHER,  Clerk. 


In  Assembly,  March  7th,  1809. 

Resolved,  That  this  House  do  concur  with  the  Honour- 
able the  Senate  in  their  preceding  resolution. 

By  order  of  the  Assembly, 

D.  RODMAN,  Clerk. 


(    4    ) 

Copy  of  a  Resolution  of  the  Society  for  the  Promotion  of 
Useful  Arts, 

Resolved^  That  the  Vice-President  be  requested  to  trans- 
mit to  the  Honourable  Robert  R.  Livingston,  Esq.  the 
concurrent  resolutions  of  the  Senate  and  Assembly  for 
publishing  his  Treatise  on  Sheep,  and  request  him  to  su- 
perintend the  pubhcation  thereof  by  such  Printer  as  he 
shall  choose ;  and  that  he  direct  five  hundred  copies,  in 
addition  to  those  ordered  by  the  resolutions,  to  be  pub- 
lished for  the  Society. 

A  true  copy. 

JAMES  LOW,  Secretary, 
Albany^  March  Sth,  1809. 


PREFACE 


1  HE  hope  of  acquiring  such  information  in  agricuU 
ture  and  the  arts  as  would  be  useful  to  my  fellow  citi- 
zens, was  not  one  of  my  smallest  motives  for  accept- 
ing a  foreign  mission.  Without  seeing  Europe  it  was 
impossible  justly  to  estimate  the  assertion  of  travellers 
relative  to  the  arts  and  agriculture  of  that  interesting 
country,  to  distinguish  the  truths  from  the  falsehoods 
contained  in  the  infinity  of  books  that  treat  of  those 
subjects,  or  to  adapt  their  precepts  to  the  soil,  climate, 
and  habits  of  the  United  States.  And  it  is  no  small 
source  of  happiness  to  me  to  believe,  that  however  my 
public  service  may  be  appreciated,  my  pursuits  in 
what  may  be  thought  a  more  humble  line,  are  not  al- 
together useless. 

Having  urged  my  fellow  citizens  to  give  some  at- 
tention to  the  fine  arts,  and  pointed  out  the  easiest 
means  of  doing  it,  I  see,  with  pleasure,  other  popu- 
lous cities  in  my  native  country  following  the  exam- 


6  PREFACE. 

pie  set  them  (upon  my  suggestion)  by  New-York,  in 
the  establishment  of  academies  for  the  fine  arts.  My 
ambition,  however,  leads  me  to  render  myself  more 
extensively  useful,  by  suggesting  and  enforcing  such 
improvements  in  agriculture  as  may  add  to  the  wealth 
of  individuals,  and,  by  forming  the  basis  of  manu- 
factures, to  the  independence  of  our  country\  My 
occupations  in  Paiis  kept  mc  from  collecting  all  the 
information  on  that  subject  which  I  could  have  wish, 
ed;  yet  some  things  I  have  noted  in  the  countries  I 
have  hastily  visited,  which,  I  trust,  may  furnish  useful 
hints,  and  lead  to  useful  experiments.  Among  other 
objects,  my  attention  was  forcibly  attracted  to  one  that 
at  present  occupies  not  only  the  agriculturalists,  but 
the  statesmen  of  Europe,  It  was  long  thought  that 
the  Merino  sheep  could  only  be  raised  advantageously 
in  Spain,  and  that  their  migration  w^as  necessary  to 
the  perfection  of  their  wool.  Under  the  influence  of 
this  opinion,  the  rest  of  Europe  submitted  to  be  tri- 
butaries of  Spain  for  this  precious  commodity;  and 
so  slow  is  the  progress  of  agricultural  improvements, 
that  though  an  enlightened  Swedish  nobleman  natu- 
ralized them  eighty  years  ago,  in  a  country  litde  con- 
genial to  their  native  habits,  yet  it  was  long  before 
his  successful  experiments  excited  public  attention, 
France,  after  some  abortive  attempts,  succeeded  so 
fully  as  to  open  the  eyes  of  the  neighbouring  nations. 
I  saw  and  admired  her  beautiful  flocks;  and  the  in- 
quiries I  had  the  means  of  making  of  intelligent  men 
from  different  parts  of  Europe,  convinced  me,  that 
instead  of  degenerating,  tliey  h;.id  improved  in  every 
region  to  which  they  had  been  transported.    Knowing 


PREFACE.  7 

the  United  States  to  be  peculiarly  adapted  to  short 
woolled  sheep,  I  was  eager  to  put  them  in  possession 
of  this  invaluable  stock.  And  I  shall  not  envy  the 
glory  of  the  Argonauts  (which  probably  consisted  in 
bringing  the  fine  woolled  Miligrelian  sheep  into  Greece) 
if  I  can  successfully  plant  the  Merinoes  of  Spain  in 
my  native  land. 

It  unfortunately  so  happened,  that  during  the  greater 
part  of  my  mission,  a  number  of  my  fellow  citizens 
were  suitors  at  Paris  for  debts  unjustly  withheld;  for 
relief  from  embarrassments  into  which  the  perplexed 
and  ever- varying  laws  of  trade,  and  in  too  many  in- 
stances their  own  imprudence,  involved  them.  As  few 
days  past  in  which  I  had  not  either  justice  or  favours 
to  ask  for  others,  I  thought  it  improper  to  ask  the  lat- 
ter for  myself,  but  hoped  to  attain  my  object  (more 
gradually  indeed),  by  selecting  two  pair  of  the  finest 
Merinoes  I  could  find,  and  sending  them  over  under 
the  care  of  one  of  my  own  servants;  believing  that  so 
small  a  shipment  w^ould  not  be  noticed,  and  intending 
to  follow  them  by  others.  They  arrived  in  safety  in 
the  spring  of  1802,  and  were,  I  believe,  the  first  couples 
ever  imported  into  the  United  States.  I  became  less 
anxious  on  the  subject,  because  I  had  the  satisfaction 
to  leani  that  Col.  Humphi^eys  liad  succeeded,  some 
time  afterwards,  in  introducing  a  much  greater  num- 
ber, direct  from  Spain,  so  that  I  believed  a  founda- 
tion was  laid  for  their  perfect  establishment.  After 
my  return  from  Italy,  being  no  longer  in  office,  I 
obtained  permission  to  ship  others  that  Mr.  Chaptal 
allowed  me  to  select  out  of  the  highest  bred  Rock  in 
France.    A  variety  of  circumstances  have  hitherto 


8  PREFACE. 

prevented  their  arrival;  but  I  still  have  the  hope  of 
seeing  them  here,  with  their  increase  since  I  pur- 
chased. 

I  was  astonished  when  I  found  upon  my  return,  in 
1805,  that  the  introduction  of  Merino  sheep  had  ex- 
cited little  attention ;  and  that  although  the  Legislature 
of  Connecticut  had  very  properly  noticed  the  patriotic 
exertions  of  Col.  Humphreys,  none  of  his  sheep  had 
been  sold  in  this  State.    I  had  also  the  mortifi (nation  to 
find,  that  notwithstanding  my  injunctions,  mine  had 
been  much  less  extended  than  I  expected.     Nay,  I 
learned  with  surprise,  that  a  flock  which  consisted  of 
near  one  hundred  of  one-half  and  three-fourths  breed 
Merinoes,  from  a  ram  sent  over  by  M.  Delessert  to 
his  farm  at  Rosendale,  near  Kingston,  had  been  sold 
at  vendue  at  a  price  inferior  to  that  of  common  sheep, 
and  that  above  one  half  of  them  had  perished  from 
neglect  the  following  winter.     Such  is  commonly  the 
case  when  novelties  are  introduced  in  agriculture,  till 
the  mind  of  the  husbandman  is  prepared  for  their  re- 
ception.    I  knew  the  importance  of  the  object,  and  I 
resolved  to  leave  no  means  unessayed  to  convince  my 
fellow  citizens  of  it.     I  began  by  purchasing  all  I 
could  find  of  the  scattered  remnant  of  M.  Delessert's 
flock.    I  picked  up  twenty-four  ewes,  and  the  price 
I  paid  for  them  attracted  the  notice  of  those  who  had 
seen  and  neglected  them. 

In  1806  I  submitted  to  the  Society  of  Useful  Arts 
two  essays  on  the  subject  of  Merino  sheep.  They 
were  received  with  a  degree  of  attention  Avhich  ex- 
ceeded my  hopes.  The  enlightened  fuimers  were 
awakened  to  the  su]:>ject,  and  the  Legislature  stepped 


PREFACE.  % 

forward  aiid  seconded  their  ai  dour  by  judicious  en- 
couragements. 

Numbers  of  my  fellow  citizens  are  now  endeavour- 
ing to  supply  themselves  wiih  his  invaluable  stock; 
and  mciny  who  had  never  given  the  least  attention  to 
sheep,  are  extending  their  ciu-e  to  Merino  flocks. 

Findhig  myself  frequently  called  upon  for  informa- 
tion, and  being  anxious  to  communicate  all  that  my 
experience  or  inquiries  had  taught  me  upon  the  sub- 
ject, as  well  as  to  keep  alive  the  interest  that  I  had 
happily  excited   in   my  fellow   citizens,    I   believed 
that  both  might  be  effected  by  the  publication  of  a 
little  volume  which  should  in  some  sort  combine  in- 
formation with  amusement,  and,  taken  in  connection 
with  what  I  had  before  written,  serve  as  a  kind  of 
Shepherd's  Manual,  and  point  out  to  the  rich  and  the 
poor  farmer  the  easiest  means   of  converting  their 
flocks  into  Merinoes,  as  well  as  the  advantage  that 
w  ould  accrue  both  to  themselves  and  their  country  by 
the  change.     I  have  endeavoured,  in  the  execution  of 
this  work,  to  render  the  style  as  simple  as  the  subject 
of  which  it  treats;  to  sketch  the  natural  histor>^  of 
sheep  in  that  rapid  manner  which  would  serve  to 
satisfy  a  plain  farmer,  without  swelling  the  work  with 
disquisitions  adapted  to  the  taste  of  the  experienced 
naturalist.     I  am  extremely  flattered  by  the  attention 
the  Legislature  and  the  Society  of  Useful  Arts  have 
shown  it,  in  deeming  it  sufficiently  import^ait  to  be 
printed  at  the  public  expense.     Should  it  contribute 
to  the  extension  of  the  Merino  sheep,  to  the  mutual 
advantage  of  the  agriculturalist  and  the  manufacturer, 
it  will  be  very  consoling  to  me  to  believe,  after  having 

2 


10  PREFACE. 

devoted  the  prime  of  my  life  to  promote  the  political 
interest  of  my  country,  that  its  decline  is  not  abso- 
lutely useless;  and  that  those  whose  fathers  have  shar- 
ed in  the  labow^s  of  my  youth,  will  receive  some  ad- 
A^antage  from  the  amusements  of  my  age. 


ESSAY  ON  SHEEP 


There  are  few  studies  more  generally  amus- 
ing than  those  which  relate  to  natural  history, 
or  rather  to  that  branch  of  it  which  comprises 
the  history  of  animals;  it  is  sufficiently  simple 
to  be  embraced  by  the  untutored  mind,  and 
yet  so  comprehensive  as  to  employ  the  faculties 
of  the  most  elevated.     The  first  will  be  enter- 
tained by  the  more  obvious  characters  of  the 
animal  he  considers,  by  its  innocence  or  its  fe- 
rocity, by  its  manners,  its  habits,  and  the  in- 
stincts which  lead  it  to  provide  for  its  wants 
and  those  of  its  ofispring.     A  more  profound 
philosopher  will  carry  his  views  further;   he 
will  analyze  the  reason  or  the  instincts  of  the 
animal,    will  examine  the  internal   structure, 
and  will  admire  the  wonderful  harmony  that 
exists  in  the  several  parts  of  his  body,  and  the 
analogy  that   is  found  between  these  and  its 
manner  of  life.     He  will  be  insensibly  led  from 
the  examination  of  the  creature  to  a  contem- 
plation of  the  Creator,  and  will  acknowledge 


12  Essay  on  Sheep. 

his  wisdom,  and  his  goodness,  in  having  exactly 
adapted  the  corporeal  and  mental  faculties  of 
every  animal  to  the  station  he  has  be^n  pleased 
to  a^*<ign  it  in  the  scale  of  beings. 

While  the  pride  of  man  is  humbled  by  the 
reflection,  that  the  most  profound  works  of  art 
are  but  feeble  imitations  of  nature,  he  will 
derive  some  consolation  froin  the  con'^ideration, 
that  God  has  condescended  in  some  sort  to  ren* 
der  him  his  agent,  and  to  give  him  extensive 
powers  over  the  animal  and  vegetable  creation; 
not  only  in  subjecting  them  to  his  control,  but 
even  in  enabling  him,  within  certain  limits, 
to  change  and  alter  their  natures,  so  as  better 
to  adapt  them  to  his  own  use,  without  subject- 
ing them  too  far  to  his  whims.  The  various 
species  of  grain  and  fruit  that  make  his  food, 
are  no  where  to  be  found  wild,  but  have  been 
brought  to  their  present  state  of  perfection  by 
the  care  and  cultivation  of  man. 

The  flowers  that  bloom  in  the  desert  (with 
very  few  exce])tions)  are  small  and  pale,  for 
the  most  part  single,  and  but  slightly  fragrant: 
to  the  culture  of  man  they  owe  their  brilliant 
and  varied  colours,  their  rich  profusion  of 
petals,  and  their  high  and  grateful  fragrance. 
Domestic  birds  and  beasts  change  and  vary  their 
colours  either  to  gratify  his  fancy,  or  to  afford 


Essay  on  Sheep.  IS 

him  natural  marks  by  which  to  designate  his 
property;  while,  in  their  native  state,  they  wear 
an  unvaried  uniform,  with  now  and  then  such 
an  exception  to  this  rule,  as  to  aftbrd  a  hint  to 
man,  and  the  means  of  grafting  a  permanent 
change  upon  accidental  varieties. 

The  power  of  man  to  effect  useful  altera- 
tions in  the  animal  creation,  is  in  nothing  more 
obvious  than  in  those  which  sheep  have  under- 
gone. It  is  impossible  to  see  this  animal  over- 
loaded with  wool,  slow  in  its  movements,  and 
possessed  of  no  means  of  defence  against  its 
numerous  enemies,  without  being  convinced 
that  such  an  animal  could  never  exist  in  a  state 
of  nature.  That  it  must  therefore  owe  its  im- 
perfections to  man,  as  it  pays  him  by  those  very 
imperfections  for  his  support  and  protection. 

I  have  thought  that  the  natural  history  of 
this  animal,  with  an  account  of  its  varieties, 
would  not  be  uninteresting  to  my  fellow  citi- 
zens; more  particularly  if  it  was  accompanied 
by  such  didactic  remarks  as  would  contribute 
to  the  improvement  and  perfection  of  the  breed 
in  such  manner  as  to  enable  us  to  draw  the 
greatest  profit  from  it. 

It  will  easily  be  conceived,  that  little  new 
can  be  offered  relative  to  a  quadruped  that  has 
iso  long  lived  under  the  care  and  observation  of 


14-  Essay  on  Sheep. 

man ;  but  it  will  certainly  be  useful  to  bring 
together  the  observations  that  have  been  made 
by  different  men  at  different  periods,  and  to 
comprise  in  one  little  volume  what  must  now 
be  sought  in  various  and  expensive  collections, 
written  in  different  languages,  and  for  the  most 
part  out  of  the  reach  of  those  of  my  fellow 
citizens  to  whom  this  is  addressed. 

1  have  already  observed,  that  an  animal  which 
propagates  slowly,  which  has  no  means  of  de- 
fence, and  which  invites  by  its  extreme  timidity 
the  attack  of  its  enemies,  without  possessing 
the  agility  to  avoid  them,  could  never  have 
existed  under  its  present  form  in  a  savage  state, 
but  must  at  all  times  have  owed  its  protection 
to  man.  Should  any  country  in  which  sheep 
exist  be  depopulated,  the  total  extinction  of  the 
race  would  follow  the  depopulation :  we  must 
then  seek  for  the  original  stock,  or  prototype  of 
sheep,  in  some  quadruped  which  possesses  force, 
address,  or  agility  enough  to  enable  it  to  exist 
without  the  aid  of  man.  Some  have  sought 
this  in  the  goat;  but  this  is  evidently  a  distinct 
animal,  though  very  nearly  related;  since  the 
he  goat  will  produce  with  the  ewe  a  lamb 
without  wool,  that  will  be  productive.  But  the 
ram  will  not  impregnate  a  she  goat,  which 
marks  an  obvious  distinction  in  the  race,  and 


Essay  071  Sheep,  15 

shows  that  the  sheep  is  more  degenerate  than 
the  goat.  Besides  that,  the  goat  is  evidently- 
descended  from  the  Bouquetin,  which  appears 
to  me  to  resemble  the  tame  goat  so  strongly, 
that  I  have  not  been  able  to  remark  any  differ- 
ence in  their  looks,  in  their  habits,  or  in  their 
musky  smell ;  except  that  the  Bouquetin*  is 
a  larger  and  stronger  animal  than  any  species 
of  domestic  goat  that  I  have  seen.  The  horns 
also  form  a  characteristic  difference  between 
the  sheep  and  the  goat.  Buffon,  and  all  natu- 
ralists since  him,  have  supposed  the  Mouflon 
Musmon,  or  what  is  sometimes  called  the 
Argali,  and  which  Linnaeus  distinguishes  by 
the  name  of  Ammon,-}-  to  form  the  stock  from 
which  the  different  varieties  of  domestic  sheep 
have  originated.  Indeed,  the  resemblance  of 
this  animal  to  the  sheep  is  so  striking,  that 
the  Russians  call  it  by  the  name  of  the  Wild 
Ram.  But  it  resembles  the  sheep  as  the  vigour 
of  manhood  resembles  the  feebleness  of  infancy, 
or  the  decrepitude  of  age.  The  one  possesses 
force,  strength,  activity;  it  can  defend  itself 
against  the  weaker  animals,  and  elude  the  pur- 
suit of  the  strong;  while  the  other  can  neither 
fight  or  fly;  but,  without  other  defence  than 

*  Kircus  Svlvestris  aut  Ibex.  f  Ovis  Ammon; 


1^  Kssay  on  Sheep. 

its  innocence,  would  soon  be  destroyed  by  tbat 
numerous  host  to  which  this  is  the  feeblest  of 
arms,  if  the  utility  of  the  race  had  not  consti- 
tuted man  at  once  its  tyrant  and  protector. 

Pliny  says  that  in  the  island  of  Corsica  there 
is  a  species  of  Musmones  not  unlike  sheep, 
whose  covering  is  more  like  the  shag  of  goats 
than  the  wool  of  sheep;  and  that  the  product 
of  this  animal  with  the  common  sheep  was  an- 
ciently called  Umbri.  From  this  circumstance 
it  may  be  inferred,  not  only  that  they  were  oc- 
casionally mixed,  but  that  the  mixed  race  were 
so  common  as  to  merit  a  distinct  name.  This 
animal  is  not,  however,  coniined  to  the  island 
of  Corsica;  it  is  at  this  day  to  be  found  in  all 
the  uncultivated  parts  of  the  islands  in  the  Ar- 
chipelago, in  Greece,  in  Sardinia,  and  in  the 
north-eastern  parts  of  Europe  and  Asia,  even 
in  Kamschatka  and  Siberia.*     The  following 

*  Pennant  seems  to  think  that  it  is  also  found  in  America,  and,  in  proof 
of  it,  he  says  he  lias  received  from  thence  a  fine  fringe  of  twisted  woolj 
which  had  ornamented  the  dress  of  an  inhabitant  of  Red  Jack,  presented 
by  Dr.  Pallas,  and  that  he  had  himself  received  another  from  the  habit  of 
an  American  of  latitude  50.  The  first  was  white,  and  of  unparalleled 
fineness;  the  other  as  fine,  but  a  pale  brown.  The  first  he  suj)i)osed  the 
wool  which  grows  intermixed  with  hair  on  the  Argali,  and  the  other  to 
have  been  from  the  coat  of  the  Musk  Bull,  which  is  a  native  of  our  coun- 
try, and  covered  v/ith  extremely  fine  long  hair,  and  beneath  that  a  coat 
of  very  fine  wool.  The  domestication  of  this  animal  would  merit  legisla- 
tive attention.  The  missionaries  to  California  in  1697,  describe  two  dis- 
tinct animals,  with  u  head  like  a  deer,  and  the  horns  of  a  ram,  which 
they  say  were  furnished  with  very  good  wool,  and  which  they  called  Wild 
Sheep.     Th.ese  were  doubtless  the  Musmones  or  Argali. 


Essay  on  Sheep,  17 

passage,     translated     from    Professor     Pallas*s 
voyages,  will  serve  as  a  full  description  of  the 
animal.     After  noticing  a  summons  that  he  had 
received  from  his  troop  of  huntsmen  who  had 
killed  a  wild  sheep  and  lamb,  he  describes  the 
first  in  the  following  words:   "  1  he  wild  sheep 
called  Argali  by  the  Monguls,  is  stronger  than 
a  fallow  deer,    and    wciglis   about    20   poud  (or 
660  lb).     The  ram  weighs  more,  because  his 
horns,    when    full    grown,    weigh    sometimes 
more  than  a  poud  {3S  lb);   he  is  higher  upon 
his  legs  than  a  tame  sheep,  and  also  more  massy. 
I  could  remark  but  little  difference  in  the  for- 
mation of  the  head.     The  Argali  has  small  up- 
right ears.     The  horns  of  the  female  are  of  a 
middling  size,  and  form  crescents;  they  are  also 
flat,  with  two  bkmt  angles  over  the  back,  but 
the  lower  part  forms  a  sharp  angle  in  front. 
The  horns  of  the  male  become  enormous,  and 
form  a  spiral  on  each  side  of  the  head,  as  those 
of  the  European  ram;    the  tail  is  short,  and 
the  hoof  like  that  of  the  common  sheep;  in 
winter  the  hair  is  long  and  frizzled,  and  mixed 
with  much  wool ;   on  the  contrary,  it  is  short 
and  smooth  in  summer.     The  old  sheep  had 
already  (i^2d  July)  lost  their  winter  coat,  at 
least  very  little  of  it  remained;  their  colour  is 
an  ash  grey.     This  animal  keeps  upon  moun- 


18  Essay  on  Sheep. 

tains  that  are  dry,  desert,  and  free  from  wood^ 
and  upon  rocks  on  which   he  finds  acrid  and 
bitter  plants.    The  ewes  lamb  before  the  snows 
are   entirely   melted.      The    lambs    resemble 
young  roebucks.     Their  horns  appear  on  their 
birth;  their  hair  is  soft,  woolly,  frizzled,  and 
of  a  deep  grey.     The  stag  is  not  so  wild  as 
the  Argali;   it  is  almost  impossible  to  approach 
him;  when  pursued  he  makes  many  turns  to 
the  right  and  to  the  left,  and  it  often  happens, 
when  he  finds  no  rocks  or  eminences  to  hide 
In,  he  turns  upon  his  steps  and  passes  before 
the  face  of  his  pursuers.      He  is  astonishingly 
light  and  swift  in  the  course,   and  can  support 
a  long  pu**suit.     But,  however  wild  this  sheep 
may  be,  in  its   infancy  the  lambs  are   easily 
tamed,  and   habituated  to  drink  milk  and  eat 
hay.     The  soldiers  employed  on  the  out  posts 
have   frequently   ascertained    this   by  experi- 
ments." 

It  is  observable,  that  though  there  are  strong 
marks  of  diflbrence  between  the  Mouflon  and 
the  domestic  sheep,  yet  there  are  also  strong 
points  of  resemblance.  The  first  has  been 
diminished  by  cultivation  as  inconvenient,  while 
the  last  has  been  improved  on  account  of  its 
utility.  As  this  quadruped  has  probably  been 
found  throughout  all  the  mountainous  parts  of 


Essay  on  Sheep.  \^ 

Europe  and  Asia,  and  perhaps  even  in  Africa; 
as  its  young  are  easily  tamed;  as  its  milk,  its 
flesh,  and  its  skin  are  extremely  valuable  to  man 
in  a  savage  state,  it  is  highly  probable  that  it 
was  among  the  first  quadrupeds  that  were  do- 
mesticated; and,  from  this  circumstance,  it  has 
perhaps  wrought  no  less  change  in  man,  than 
man  has  in  it.  What  respect  do  we  not  owe  it, 
if,  as  is  highly  probable,  we  are  indebted  to  it  for 
the  conversion  of  man  from  the  wild  and  vi^an- 
dering  savage,  to  the  mild  and  gentle  shepherd ! 
The  horse,  the  bull,  and  the  camel,  were  proba- 
bly conquests  subsequently  made  over  the  ani- 
mal creation,  because  it  required  more  strength 
and  skill  to  tame  and  render  them  useful;  but 
the  young  Mouflon  was  soon  tamed ;  the  female 
savage  that  followed  her  husband  to  the  chace 
snatched  it  from  its  bleeding  dam,  pressed  it  to 
her  bosom,  and  became  its  mother;  it  sported 
with  her  children,  and  taught  them  to  love  a  race 
which  they  had  hitherto  pursued  only  to  destroy, 
A  slight  ray  of  reason  must  have  shown  the  sa- 
vage how  much  less  precarious  his  subsistence 
would  be,  if  he  could  draw  it  from  an  animal 
that  fed  at  the  door  of  his  hut,  than  if  he  was 
compelled  to  seek  it  in  the  chace.  He  would 
extend  his  flock;  he  would  cease  to  trespass  up- 
on the  hunting  grounds  of  others;  but  he  would 


20  Essay  on  Sheep, 

appropriate  a  portion  for  the  support  of  his 
flock;  he  would  compound  with  his  tribe;  or 
the  whole  tribe,  going  into  the  same  culture, 
would  mark  out  limits  which  they  would  not 
suffer  to  be  trespassed  upon ;  they  would  unite 
for  common  defence;  the  rights  of  property 
would  be  known,  and  a  nation  be  formed 
where  before  only  wandering  hordes  had  ex- 
isted. By  what  simple  means  does  providence 
produce  the  greatest  good?  That  we  are  not  at 
this  moment  iierce,  savage,  and  brutal,  little 
superior  to  the  beasts  that  roam  in  the  wilder- 
ness, and  only  employing  that  little  superiority 
in  their  destruction,  and  in  the  destruction  of 
each  other,  is  probably  owing  to  the  domestica- 
tion of  graminivorous  animals,  and,  first  of  all,  to 
that  of  sheep.  To  them  we  are  also  indebted  for 
some  of  the  most  pleasing,  as  well  as  for  the  most 
important  and  useful  arts.  The  cradle  of  music 
and  poetry  was  rocked  by  the  shepherds  of  Ar- 
cadia; while  the  spindle  and  thedistaff,  the  wheel 
and  the  loom,  originated  in  the  domestication 
of  sheep.  This  little  animal  then,  in  losing  its 
own  wild  nature,  has  not  only  converted  the 
savage  into  the  man,  but  has  led  him  from  one 
state  of  civilization  to  another;  the  fierce  hun- 
ter it  has  changed  into  the  mild  shepherd,  and 
the  untutored  shepherd  into  the  more  polished 


Essay  on  Sheep.  21 

manufacturer.  The  more  sedentary  men  be- 
came, the  greater  were  their  wants  and  depen- 
dence upon  each  other;  and  In  those  wants 
and  that  dependence  originated  civihzation 
and  polished  societies. 

The  sheep  which  approaches  nearest  to  the 
original  stock,  and  has  suffered  less  by  the  art 
of  man,  is  the  Adiman  or  African  sheep. 
These  are  large,  active,  and  covered  with  hair 
without  any  intermixture  of  wool.  It  is  ob- 
servable, that  the  Mouflon  or  Argali  has  a  fleece 
composed  of  hair  and  wool  in  the  cold  climate 
of  Tartary ;  yet  those  in  warmer  climates  have 
no  wool.  It  is  probably  from  this  stock  that 
the  sheep  of  Guinea  have  been  reared ;  and  as 
they  belonged  to  a  people  to  whom  woollen 
clothing  would  be  of  no  use,  who  formerly 
went  naked,  and  if  they  now  wear  a  slight  and 
partial  covering,  it  consists  of  lighter  materials 
than  wool  would  afford;  it  is,  therefore,  not  sur- 
prising that  they  have  not  added  to  the  degene- 
racy of  their  flocks  by  rendering  them  wool- 
bearers.  Half  savage  themselves,  they  are 
content  that  their  domestic  animals  should  re- 
semble them;  since  in  that  state  they  are  fitter 
to  furnish  food  than  if  part  of  their  suste- 
nance went  also  to  the  supply  of  clothing. 
It  is  generally  supposed  that  the  want  of  wool 


22  Essay  on  Sheep, 

is  the  natural  effect  of  the  climate;  and  that 
the  wool-bearing  sheep,  upon  being  transported 
to  low  latitudes,  loose  their  wool,  and  acquire 
hair;  and  the  smooth  skinned  sheep  that  are 
found  in  most  of  the  West-India  islands  are 
adduced  as  a  proof  of  this  theory. 

1  will  not  pretend  to  say  that  climate,  in  a 
long  series  of  years,  may  not  produce  a  change 
in  the  nature  of  quadrupeds;  but  if  it  does,  I 
believe  it  must  operate  very  slowly,  and  much 
more  gradually  than  is  generally  supposed. 
The  hairy  sheep*  that  are  found  in  most  of  the 
islands  appear  to  me  to  bear  evident  marks  of 
.African  origin;  like  those,  the  rams  and  ewes 
have  a  kind  of  dewlap  of  long  hair  pendant 
from  their  necks;  they  are  larger  and  more  ac- 
tive than  the  common  European  sheep.  It  is 
certainly  not  to  be  wondered  at,  that  countries 
which  maintain  a  constant  intercourse  with 
Guinea  should  have  brought  over  their  sheep 
as  well  as  their  men,  and,  as  this  breed  are 
better  adapted  to  a  warm  climate  than  the  sheep 
of  Europe,  they  have  probably  become  the 
pred eminent  sheep  in  the  islands;  though  there 
are,  in  many  of  them,  wool-bearing  sheep, 
which  remain  unaltered,  except  by  mixture  of 


*  Ovls  Aries  Guiniencis, 


Essay  on  Sheep.  iS 

their  blood  with  that  of  the  Guinea  sheep.  I 
have  myself  had  occasion  to  make  some  expe- 
riments in  those  sheep,  three  of  which  were 
sent  me  by  my  worthy  friend  Mr.  Kerby,  from 
the  island  of  Antigua.  I  had  these  several 
years  without  observing  that  any  sensible  change 
was  produced  by  exposure  to  the  air  during  our 
cold  winters,  except  that,  like  the  Argali,  they 
acquired,  the  first  winter,  a  coat  of  very  short 
and  fine  wool  below  their  hair,  which  fell  off*, 
together  with  the  hair,  as  the  summer  heats  came 
on,  when  they  acquired  a  new  coat  of  hair 
only;  and,  as  winter  approached,  this  was  again 
thickened  by  an  under  stratum  of  very  fine 
short  wool.  These  sheep  are  then  the  Argali, 
but  moderately  degenerated.  Indeed,  it  would 
appear  a  little  extraordinary,  if  the  climate  that 
converts  the  hair  of  man  into  wool,  should,  by 
some  retrograde  movement,  change  the  wool 
of  sheep  into  hair.  The  next  in  order,  in 
point  of  degeneracy  from  the  original  stock, 
is  the  sheep  of  Iceland.*  Like  the  Argali, 
they  have  two  coats;  one  of  extremely  coarse 
hair,  which  hardly  merits  the  name  of  wool, 
and  another  beneath  it  of  a  softer  and  finer 
quality,  but  so  mixed  as  to  make  it  impossible 

*  Ovis  Aries  Polycerata.     Lin. 


24  Essay  oji  Sheep, 

to  separate  them.  These  sheep  partake  of  the 
hardiness  of  the  parent  stock.  The  large  horns 
pecuHar  to  the  Argali  is  not,  indeed,  found 
among  them  in  the  same  form,  but  it  is  broken 
down  into  several  smaller  branches.  Most  of 
them  carry  four,  and  many  five  horns  of  con- 
siderable size,  and  always  spiral.  What  is  re- 
markable, and  shows  that  this  circumstance  is 
owing  to  the  address  of  man,  and  not  to  the 
effects  of  climate,  is,  that  when  the  common 
sheep  are  brought  to  Iceland,  their  horns  di- 
minish or  disappear  altogether;  this,  at  least, 
is  affirmed  by  V.  Bomari.  The  Iceland  flocks 
are  never  stabled,  but  seek  their  food  by  fol- 
lowing the  horses  and  eating  the  grass  and  moss 
that  they  uncover;  their  own  feet  being  too 
feeble  to  dig  the  snow.  Their  shelter  is  the 
jutting  rocks,  or  mountain's  caverns.  At  the 
approach  of  a  snow  storm  they  run  violently 
towards  the  sea,  and  are  sometimes  precipitated 
into  it  by  each  other.  They  have  probably 
learned  from  experience  that  the  sea  softens  the 
rigour  of  the  air,  and  that  the  snow  is  sooner 
dissolved  in  its  vicinity  than  upon  the  moun- 
tains. If  they  are  surprized  by  a  snow  storm 
before  they  can  reach  the  coast,  they  turn  their 
heads  toward  each  other,  and  patiently  expect, 
under  their  fleecy  covering,  the  aid  of  their 


Essay  on  Sheep.  2& 

owners,  who  do  not  fail  to  search  for  and  re- 
lieve them  as  soon  as  possible.  They  distin- 
guish the  spot  in  which  they  are  buried  by  an 
exhalation  which  arises  from  their  breath.  If 
this  aid  is  so  long  delayed  as  to  sul)ject  the 
sheep  to  the  danger  of  starving,  they  recipro- 
cally feed  upon  each  others  fleece.  This  race 
is  extended  through  the  Danish  islands;  where 
it  is  equally  neglected  during  the  winter;  and 
their  instincts  improve  by  this  neglect.  They 
keep  each  other  warm  by  pressing  close  to- 
gether when  the  bleak  winds  pinch  them;  and 
those  from  the  centre  relieve  in  turn,  those 
who,  in  the  outer  part  of  the  circle,  are  ex- 
posed to  the  severity  of  the  blast:  thus  neces- 
sity sharpens  the  invention  of  beasts  as  well  as 
of  men.  Left  to  themselves,  and  compelled 
to  rely  upon  their  own  resources,  they  know 
how  to  call  them  forth;  while  our  helpless 
sheep,  who  rely  wholly  upon  the  attention  of 
their  keepers,  will  frequently  suffer  from  cold, 
rain,  and  snow,  without  moving  into  the  shel- 
ter that  is  provided  for  them. 

I  find  in  the  Supplement  to  Buffon  the  draw- 
ing of  another  species  of  sheep,  which  he  calls 
the  Wallachian  Sheep,  but  it  is  accompanied  by 
no  description.  It  is  the  sheep  called  the  Strep- 
siceros  or  Cretan  Sheep,  and  only  diifers  Ixom 

4 


26  Essay  on  Sheep, 

the  common  sheep  in  having  horns  spiral,  and 
growing  upright.    This  sheep  has  in  Wallachia 
and  Hungary  an  undulated  wool,  which  is  valu- 
able for  peltries;  but  I  imagine  this  is  rather  the 
effect  of  art  than  nature,  for  I  find  that  the  mon- 
gul  Tartars  make  use  of  the  following  means 
to  have  their  peltries  of  this  sort.     The  lambs 
have  naturally  with  them,  as  they  frequently 
have  with  us,  a  kind  of  wave  or  curl   in  their 
wool  when  they  are  first  dropped.     In  order 
to  improve  this,  and  to  render  it  permanent, 
they  cover  the  lamb  with  a  linen  coat,  tied  close 
about  the  body.  This  they  water  frequently  with 
warm  water,  and  loose  it  occasionally  as  the 
lamb  increases  in  size.     When  it  has  attained 
the  necessary  perfection,  of  which  they  judge 
by  inspection,  they  kill  the  lamb.    These  skins 
are  more  valuable  than   any  of  the  furs,  ex- 
cept those  of  the  Sable.     It  might  be  worth 
the  trial  here  upon  some  of  our  lambs  whose 
wool  is  most  curled  and  waved  when  they  are 
dropped.    By  this  means  a  new  source  of  profit 
might  be  derived  from  this  useful  animal;  nor 
would  the  flesh  be  lost:  a  lamb  is  fit  for  the  ta- 
ble at  a  month  old.      I  have  seen  hundreds  of 
them  sold  by  butchers  at  Naples  much  younger. 
There,  as  in  Spain,  where  they  have  migrating 
(locks,,  probably  half  the  lambs  are  killed.     In 


Essay  on  Sheep.  27 

Spain  every  lamb  of  the  migrating  flock  has, 
besides  his  natural,  a  foster  mother.  In  order 
to  induce  the  last  to  take  the  lamb,  the  skin  of 
that  which  has  been  killed  is  put  upon  the  one 
to  be  raised,  and,  in  this  disguise,  she  mistakes 
it  for  her  own,  and  gets  familiarized  to  it  in  a 
few  days.  This  does  not,  indeed,  always  suc- 
ceed. When  it  does  not,  the  shepherd  compels 
her  to  admit  the  lamb  by  tying  her. 

The  race  of  sheep  thatl  shall  next  notice,  is 
one  that  is  more  extensively  diffused  than  any 
other,  since  it  is  found  throughout  Asia,  and  a 
great  part  of  Africa,  as  well  as  through  the 
north-eastern  parts  of  Europe.  I  refer  to  the 
broad -tailed  sheep.*  These  differ,  as  the  ordi- 
nary European  race,  in  the  nature  of  their  co- 
vering. In  Madagascar,  and  some  other  hot 
climates,  they  are  hairy;  at  the  Cape  of  Good- 
Hope  they  are  covered  with  coarse  harsh  wool; 
in  the  Levant  their  wool  is  extremely  fine,  or, 
in  other  words,  they  are  adapted  to  the  neces- 
sities of  the  people  by  whom  they  have  been 
changed  from  their  wild  to  their  domestic  state. 
These  sheep  are  generally  larger  than  those  of 
Europe,  in  which  circumstance  only,  and  the 
form  and  size  of  their  tails,  they  differ  from 

*  Ovis  Aries  Laticandata. 


28  Essay  on  Sheep n 

them.      The  broad-tailed  sheep  are   of  three 
species.    In  the  one  the  tail  is  not  only  broad  but 
long,  and   so  weighty  that  the  shepherds  are 
compelled  to  place  two  little  wheels  under  it 
to  enable  the  sheep  to  drag  it.    These  tails  are 
said   sometimes  to   weigh  from   forty  to  fifty 
pounds.     Another  species  have  the  tail  broad 
and  flat,  but  not  very  long,  covered  with  wool 
above,  but  smooth  below,  and    divided   by   a 
furrow^  into  two  lobes  of  flesh ;  these  are  also  said 
to   weigh   above  thirty  pounds:   I  should   not 
however,  estimate  the  weight  of  those  which 
I  saw  in  the  menagery  at  Paris,  at  more  than 
ten  or  twelve  pounds.     In  some  species  a  small 
thin  tail  projects  from  the  centre  of  this  fleshy 
excrescence.     The  composition  of  this  excres- 
cence is  said  to  be  a  mixture  of  flesh  with  a 
great  proportion  of  fat,  and  to  be  very  delicate 
food;   but  the   animal  has  little  other  fat,  the 
tail    being   in  him  the   repository   of  that  fat 
which  lays  about  the  loins  of  other  sheep.     In 
cold  climates  the  fat  of  the  tail  resembles  suet; 
but  in  warm  ones,  as  at  the  Cape   of  Good- 
Hope,  Madagascar,  &c.  it  is  so  soft,  that  when 
melted  it  will  not  harden  again.  The  inhabitants 
mix  it  with  tallow  in  certain  proportions,  when 
it  a^>umes  the  consistency  of  hog's  lard,  and  is 
then  eaten  like  butter,  or  used  for  culinary  pur- 


Essay  on  Sheep.  29 

poses.   Naturalists  imagine  that  this  excrescence 
is  owing  to  some  circumstance  in  the  food  of 
the  sheep,  which  makes  the  fat  fall  down  from 
the   loin  into  the  tail,  and  thus  occasions  this 
monstrosity.       I  do   not,  however,    think  this 
probable,  since  the  prodigious  extent  of  coun- 
try through  which  this  race  is  propagated,  must 
render  the  food  as  various  as  the  climates  in 
which  they  are  bred.      I  rather  think,  that  it 
owes  its  origin  to   the  art  of  man,  grounded 
upon  some  of  those  sports  of  nature,  which, 
in  all  domestic  animals,  afford  a  basis  whereon 
to  ingraft  his  whims.     The  broad-tailed  sheep 
does  not  differ  more  from  the  Argali,  than  the 
white    fan-tailed   pigeon  does   from   the   wild 
blue   European   pigeon  from   which  it   origi- 
nally  descended ;    or    than   the  little  hairless 
smooth-skinned  Turkish  cur,  from  the  rough 
shepherd's  dog,  the  common  ancestor  of  his 
race.     It  may  be  asked,  to  what  end  would 
man    cultivate    this   deformity,    and    that   too 
through  so  extensive  a  region  as  to  forbid  our 
attributing  it  to  whim  or  fashion?     May  not 
the  shepherd  who  first  observed  this  lusus  na- 
turae in  his  flock  have  concluded,  that  he  had 
made  a  very  valuable  acquisition,  since  he  not 
only  had  a  sheep  that  gave  him  as  much  wool, 
milk  or  flesh  as  the  rest  of  his  flock,  but  a  tail. 


30  Essai/  on  Sheep. 

which,  in  addition,  gave  him  a  comfortable 
meal,  or  what  is  still  more  valuable  among 
savages,  plenty  of  grease  for  his  toilet  and  his 
kitchen  ?  This  circumstance  alone  would  make 
him  attentive  to  cherish  and  propagate  the  de- 
formity; and  the  rather,  as  he  must  soon  have 
found  that  it  was  attended  with  another  import- 
ant advantage;  the  sheep  being  more  un wield- 
ly, would  be  less  apt  to  stray  or  return  to  its 
savage  state;  an  object  of  considerable  import- 
ance in  the  early  state  of  society.  We  find  at 
this  moment  a  deformity  in  sheep  cultivated 
with  attention  among  ourselves.  An  accidental 
variety  of  sheep  have  been  found  here  with 
short  crooked  legs,  such,  in  fact,  as  to  cripple 
them,  and  to  make  motion,  as  I  should  think, 
painful  to  them.  These,  called  the  Otter  Sheep, 
are  valued  for  this  deformity,  because  it  disa- 
bles them  from  straying  or  leaping  over  walls 
or  fences ;  and  what  was  at  first  probably  an 
accidental  circumstance,  has  become  the  basis 
of  a  new  and  unsightly  race.  If  a  civilized 
nation,  with  whom  taste  has  formed  a  standard 
for  beauty,  can  consent  to  cripple  God's  works, 
and  erect  an  altar  to  deformity,  whereon  to  sa- 
crifice the  enjoyments  of  a  helpless  and  useful 
animal,  why  should  we  be  surprized,  that  sava- 
ges, ignorant  of  the  beauty  of  proportion  and 


Essay  on  Sheep.  3 1 

the  harmony  of  forms,  should  have  early- 
sought  to  curb  the  troublesome  agility  of  their 
sheep,  by  giving  the  same  preference  to  rickety 
tails,  that  some  among  us  have  done  to  rickety 
legs? 

I  come  now  to  speak  of  those  breeds  of  sheep 
that  are  best  known  to  us,  and  indeed  the  most 
useful  in  our  state  of  society — the  sheep  of 
Europe.  I  should  however  first  observe,  that 
some  provinces  of  Persia  possess  a  breed  of 
sheep  whose  wool  is  finer  and  more  valued 
than  that  of  Spain;  but  as  I  have  no  where  met 
with  a  minute  account  of  them,  I  shall  pro- 
ceed to  notice  the  race  of  sheep  which  holds 
the  first  rank,  and  bears  the  finest  fleeces  of 
any  known  in  Europe — I  mean  the  Merino 
sheep  of  Spain.  The  race  varies  greatly  in 
size  and  beauty  in  different  parts  of  Spain.  It 
is  commonly  rather  smaller  than  the  middle 
sized  sheep  of  America.  The  body  is  com- 
pact, the  legs  short,  the  head  long,  the  fore- 
head arched.  The  ram  generally  (but  not  in- 
variably) carries  very  large  spiral  horns,  has  a 
fine  eye  and  a  bold  step.  The  ewes  have  gene- 
rally no  horns.  The  wool  of  these  sheep  is  so 
much  finer  and  softer  than  the  common  wool, 
as  to  bear  no  sort  of  comparison  with  it;  it  is 
twisted  and  drawn  together  like  a  cork-screw; 


32  Essai/  on  Sheep. 

its  length  is  generally  about  three  inches,  but 
when  drawn  out  it  will  stretch  to  nearly  double 
that  length.  Though  the  wool  is,  when  cleaned, 
extremely  white,  yet  on  the  sheep  it  appears  of 
a  yellowish  or  dirty  brown  colour,  owing  to 
the  closeness  of  the  coat,  and  the  condensation 
of  the  perspiration  on  the  extremities  of  the 
fleece.  The  wool  commonly  covers  great  part 
of  the  head,  and  descends  to  the  hoof  of  the 
hind  feel,  particularly  in  young  sheep;  it  is 
also  much  more  greasy  than  the  wool  of  other 
sheep.  Spain  contain*?  besides  the  Merinoes,  a 
variety  of  other  sheep.  Those  called  the  Cho- 
aroes  are  much  longer,  larger,  and  higher  upon 
the  legs  than  the  Merinoes.  Their  heads  are 
smaller,  and  deprived  of  wool.  Their  con- 
stitutions are  stronger  than  those  of  the  Me- 
rino. Their  wool  near  eight  inches  long,  but 
straighter  and  of  less  value  than  that  of  the 
Merino.  This  race  extends  through  all  Spain, 
even  into  those  provinces  in  which  the  Me- 
rino is  most  perfect.  The  other  sheep  are  a 
mixed  breed  between  those  and  the  Merino. 
The  number  of  these  two  species  is  computed 
at  about  6,000,000.  Among  the  Merinoes  there 
are  varieties,  probably  occasioned  by  the  care 
or  fancy  of  the  original  cultivators  of  this  va- 
hjable  stock  in  dift'erent  parts  of  Spain.    Castile 


Essay  on  Sheep,  33 

and  Leon  has  the  largest,  with  the  finest  coats. 
Those  of  Soria  are  small,   with  very  fine  wool. 
Those  also  of  Valencia,    which,  like  the  last, 
do  not  travel,  have  fine   wool,    but  of  a  very 
short  staple.     The  greater  part  of  the  Merinoes 
of  Spain  are  transhumante,  and  migrate  from 
the  south  to  the  north,  and  from  the  north   to 
the  south  twice  every  year.    This  has  probably 
contributed  to  the  health  of  the  sheep,  and,  as 
a  consequence  of  it,  to  preserve  the  beauty  of 
the  wool,  without  however  being  essential  to  it; 
as  appears  from  the  fine  wool  produced  by  the 
stationary  flocks  that  I  have  mentioned,   and 
other  stationary  flocks  in  the  hands  of  indivi- 
duals, whose  wool  is  not  inferior  to  that  of  the 
migrating  sheep.    Spain  is  bounded  to  the  north 
by  mountains  of  such  altitude  as  to  be  covered 
during  the  winter  with  snow.     These  however 
afford  fine  pasturage  in  the  spring  and  summer, 
when  the  plains  in  the  south  are  parched  by  the 
sun.     It  was  very  natural  then  for  the  shepherd 
to  avail  himself  of  this  circumstance,  and  while 
the  country  was  little  cultivated,  to  drive  his 
flock  from  the  burnt  grass  of  the  plains  to  the 
fresh  and  verdant  herbage  of  the  mountains; 
and  again,  when  this  was  chilled  by  frost,  or 
covered  by  snow,   to  return  to  the  plains  that 
had   regained  their   verdure;    the    winters  of 

5 


34  Essay  07i  Sheep, 

Spain  not  being  so  severe  as  to  destroy  the  ve- 
getation, except  in  the  mountains..  Necessity 
also  contributed  to  keep  up  this  practice. 
During  the  long  wars  that  were  carried  on 
between  the  natives  of  Spain  and  the  Moors, 
agriculture  was  neglected,  and  the  only  pro- 
perty which  could  be  saved  from  the  ravages 
of  an  enemy,  was  that  which  could  be  easily 
removed ;  but  they  were  content  at  that  time 
to  travel  only  from  the  plains  to  the  adjoining 
mountains,  and  not  as  at  present  to  travel  the 
whole  kingdom  twice  a  year.  Neither  conve- 
nience nor  necessity  can  be  offered  as  an  ex- 
cuse for  a  practice  so  hurtful  to  agriculture. 
This  was  founded  in  abuse  of  power.  Happy 
would  it  be  for  mankind  if  this  was  the  only 
instance  in  which  tyranny  and  oppression  had 
been  engrafted  upon  necessity. 

The  greater  part  of  the  travelling  flocks  in 
process  of  time  got  into  the  hands  of  the  sove- 
reign, or  into  those  of  the  principal  courtiers 
and  clergy;  and  from  thence  we  must  proba- 
bly date  the  oppressive  code  by  which  their 
march  is  regulated,  and  the  origin  of  the  great 
Council  of  the  Royal  Troop  (Consejo  de  la 
Mesta),  by  whom  those  laws  are  administered. 
M.  Tasterie,  in  his  excellent  treatise,  gives  the 
following  account  of  this  council. 


Essay  on  Sheep.  55 

**  The  Mesta,  which  originated  with  the  times, 
in  which  force  only  gave  law,  about  the  mid- 
dle of  the  iifteenth  century,  formed  a  political 
body.  TI\is  association  was  composed  of  rich 
and  powerful  persons,  and  some  monks,  all 
proprietors  of  flocks,  which,  under  the  autho- 
rity of  government,  made  laws  and  decided 
questions  relative  to  pasturage  and  flocks  of 
sheep.  Two  great  quarto  volumes  formed  the 
code  of  privileges,  and  the  arsenal  in  which 
were  found  arms  to  combat  justice  and  oppress 
the  weak.  It  was  seldom  that  proprietors  of 
land  made  demands  when  they  sustained  da- 
mage, thinking  it  better  to  suffer  than  to  con- 
test, when  they  w^re  assured  that  the  expense 
would  greatly  exceed  any  compensation  they 
might  recover.  It  is  sufficient  to  say,  that  this 
tribunal  is  not  only  adverse  to  the  enclosing  of 
land,  but  that,  under  some  circumstances,  it 
may  prohibit  proprietors  from  cultivating  their 
inheritance.  A  Spanish  writer  (Jovellanes),  in 
a  memoh'  addressed  to  the  King  of  Spain,  says, 
^  the  corps  of  Junadines  (the  proprietors  of 
flocks)  enjoy  an  enormous  power,  and  have, 
by  the  force  of  sophisms  and  intrigues,  not 
only  engrossed  all  the  pastures  of  the  kingdom, 
but  have  made  the  cultivators  abandon  their 
most  fertile  lands;  thus  they  have  banished  the 


36  Essay  on  Sheep. 

stationary  flocks  (the  estantes),  ruined  agricul- 
ture, and  depopulated  the  country/  It  is  easily 
conceived,  that  five  millions  of  sheep  travers- 
ing the  kingdom  in  almost  its  whole  extent, 
for  w^hom  the  cultivators  are  compelled  to 
leave  a  road  through  their  vineyards  and  best 
cultivated  lands  of  not  less  than  ninety  yards 
wide,  and  for  whom,  besides,  large  commons 
must  be  left;  I  say,  it  is  easily  conceived  that 
such  a  flock  must  greatly  contribute  to  the  de- 
population of  the  country,  and  that  the  revenue 
that  the  King  draws  by  the  duty  on  wool  is 
snatched  from  the  bread  of  his  people/' 

When  the  severe  weather  commences  upon 
the  moimtains,  the  shepherds  prepare  to  depart, 
which  is  generally  about  the  end  of  Septem- 
ber and  throughout  the  month  of  October,  to 
seek  more  temperate  climates  and  fresher  pas- 
tures. In  April  and  May,  according  as  the 
season  is  late  or  early,  they  return  to  the  moun- 
tains. They  generally  travel  about  five  or  six- 
leagues  a  day,  and  stop  occasionally  in  the 
pastures  prepared  for  them :  the  head  shep- 
herd precedes,  and  the  rest  flank  or  follow  the 
flock  to  collect  the  stragglers.  Like  Virgil's 
Libean  shepherds,  they  carry  every  thing  with 
them. 


Essay  on  Sheep,  37 

Omnia  secum 
Armenta.ius  Afer  agit,  tectumque,  laremque, 
Armaque,  Amyclaeumque  eanem,  Cressamque  pharetram.    , 

This  is  comprised  in  a  very  short  catalogue. 
The  skins  of  sheep  that  serve  for  their  beds,  a 
kettle,  a  leather  bottle,  a  knapsack,  a  spoon,  a 
lancet  to  bleed  their  sheep,  a  scissors,  a  hatchet, 
a  knife,  and  bread  and  oil  or  suet,  on  vi^hich  they 
subsist,  and  a  few  drugs  for  their  sheep.  These, 
with  the  skins  of  those  sheep  that  die  in  the 
passage,  are  carried  by  a  few  beasts  of  burthen 
which  accompany  the  flock.  To  facilitate  the 
march,  a  number  of  wethers  of  the  largest  size, 
which  they  call  Mansos,  are  rendered  very  tame. 
These  carry  bells,  and  are  taught  to  obey  the  sig- 
nals of  the  shepherds,  and  either  march  or  stop 
as  they  direct.  The  rest  of  the  flocks  follow  their 
leaders.  As  soon  as  they  arrive  at  their  winter 
quarters,  the  shepherd*s  first  care  is  to  form  the 
pens  in  which  they  are  gathered  at  night  to 
protect  them  from  the  wolves,  who  always  mi- 
grate with  the  sheep,  in  order  to  pick  up  the 
sick,  the  weak,  or  the  stragglers.  These  folds 
are  made  of  genista  hispanica,  which  is  a 
soft  rushy  shrub:  mats,  baskets  and  ropes  arc 
made  of  it.  The  meshes  of  these  net  enclo- 
sures are  a  foot  wide.  The  dogs,  which  are 
of '  a  large  breed,   serve  to  guard  this  fold  at 


38  Essay  on  Sheep, 

night.  The  shepherds  make  their  own  tents 
with  stakes,  branches,  and  brambles,  and  have 
for  this  purpose  a  right  to  take  one  branch 
from  every  forest  tree.  Ten  thousand  sheep 
compose  a  flock  under  the  direction  of  one 
chief,  and  this  is  divided  into  ten  tribes.  The 
head  shepherd  has  absolute  dominion  over 
fifty  shepherds,  and  as  many  dogs,  five  of 
each  being  annexed  to  a  tribe.  His  salary  is 
about  two  hundred  dollars  a  year,  while  that 
of  the  first  shepherd  of  a  tribe  is  only  ten,  the 
second  eight,  the  third  and  fourth  still  less,  and 
a  boy  only  two  and  a  half.  Their  daily  al- 
lowance of  food  is  two  pounds  of  bread,  and 
as  much  to  each  dog.  They  may  keep  a  few 
goats  or  sheep,  of  which  they  have  the  meat, 
but  not  the  w^ool.  They  receive  as  a  gratuity 
about  six  shillings  in  April,  and  as  much  in 
October,  by  way  of  regale.  On  the  road  they 
are  every  day,  at  all  seasons,  exposed  to  the 
air,  and  at  night  have  no  shelter  but  their  mi- 
serable huts.  In  this  way  live  to  a  considera- 
ble age  the  twenty-five  thousand  men  that 
compose  the  shepherds  in  Spain.  The  flocks 
consist  of  rams,  ewes,  wethers  and  lambs,  in 
the  following  proportion:  five  rams,  one  hun- 
dred ewes,  twenty-five  wethers  and  fifty  lambs. 
The  small   number  of  lambs  is  owing  to  the 


Essay  on  Sheep.  39 

shepherds  killing  all  that  are  not  necessary  to 
keep  up  their  stock,  which  is,  of  course,  li- 
mitted  by  the  right  of  pasturage.  The  num- 
ber of  travelling  Merino  sheep  is  about  five 
millions.  The  fleeces  of  the  rams  weigh  eight 
and  a  half  pounds,  of  the  ewes  five,  which 
loses  half  in  washing;  but  in  this  there  is  great 
variety,  according  to  the  different  species  of 
Merinoes.  Tlie  produce  is  about  twenty-four 
reals,  or  sixteen  shillings  per  head.  Of  this 
the  owner  receives  but  two,  the  King  six,  and 
the  remainder  goes  to  the  payment  of  expen- 
ses, of  pasture,  tythes,  shepherds,  dogs,  &c. 
When  the  sheep  return  to  their  summer  pasture 
they  have  as  much  salt  given  theip  as  they  will 
eat.  One  thousand  sheep  are  allowed  one  hun- 
dred pounds  of  salt,  which  they  eat  in  about 
five  months.  They  eat  none  when  on  their 
journey,  or  in  their  winter  quarters.  They 
suppose  in  Spain  that  salt  contributes  greatly 
to  the  fineness  of  the  wool.  The  shepherd 
places  fifty  or  sixty  flat  stones  at  about  five 
paces  from  each  other;  he  strews  salt  upon, 
and  leads  the  sheep  among  them.  In  the 
month  of  April  it  requires  some  vigilance  to 
prevent  the  sheep  from  marching  oft'  without 
their  shepherds,  to  the  very  place  where  they 
fed  the  preceding  year,  which  they  sometimes 


40  Essay  071  Sheep. 

do  to  the  number  of  three  or  four  hundred  in 
a  flock. 

As  the  Merino  sheep  are  greatly  superior  to 
any  other  in  Europe,  it  has  naturally  led  to  an 
inquiry  into  their  origin,  and  the  time  of  their 
introduction  into  Spain.  On  this  subject  history 
does  not  afford  all  the  light  we  could  wish. 
Many  suppose  that  they  were  originally  intro- 
duced from  the  coast  of  Barbary,  by  Don 
Pedro  the  fourth,  who  ascended  the  throne  of 
Castile,  in  the  middle  of  the  fourteenth  cen- 
tury. Others  again  attribute  their  introduction 
to  Cardinal  Ximenes,  who  became  Prime  Mi- 
nister of  Spain  in  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth 
century.  And  Anderson  insists,  upon  the  au- 
thority of  Stow  and  some  old  records,  that  they 
were  introduced  from  England  as  early  as  Ed- 
ward the  fourth,  who  died  in  1483.  Though 
all  these  circumstances  may  have  contributed 
to  improve  certain  breeds  already  existing  in 
Spain,  yet  it  is  certain  that  the  fine  woolled 
sheep  were  found  in  that  country  at  a  much 
earlier  period.  Strabo,  speaking  of  the  beau- 
tiful woollen  clothes  that  were  worn  by  the 
Romans,  says,  that  the  wool  was  brought  from 
Truditania  in  Spain.  After  the  conquest  of 
that  country  by  the  Romans,  colonics  were 
planted  there,  who  carried  with  them  the  art'^ 


Essay  on  Sheep,  41 

and   love  of  agriculture  which   distinguished 
that  nation  of  warriors. 

Columelhi  (uncle  of  Columella  who  has  left 
us  an  excellent  treatise  on  agriculture),  a  rich 
colonist,  who  lived  at  Cadiz  during  the  reign 
of  Claudius,  and  made  agriculture  his  pleasure 
and  his  pursuit,  was  struck  with  the  beautv  of 
the  wild  rams  that  were  brought  from  Africa 
to  be  exhibited  at  the  Roman  games.  He 
coupled  those  with  Tarentian  ewes,  which  were 
celebrated  for  the  softness  of  their  wool,  and 
procured  by  this  means  a  race  whose  fleeces 
resembled  that  of  their  dam  in  softness,  and 
that  of  their  sire  in  the  colour  and  fineness  of 
the  wool.  Whether  any  permanent  change 
was  effected  by  this  experiment  of  Columella's, 
I  know  not;  but  as  Spain  was  at  that  tmie 
highly  civilized,  and  as  agriculture  was  a  fa- 
vourite pursuit  of  all  who  were  not  occupied 
in  war,  I  think  it  highly  probable  that  this 
experiment  laid  the  foundation  for  a  general 
improvement  in  the  sheep  of  the  country. 
If  it  did,  Spain  is  more  Indebted  to  the  patriotic 
efforts  of  one  enlightened  farmer,  than  to  the 
ablest  of  her  statesmen.  How  much  should  it 
excite  the  laudable  ambition  of  virtuous  men  to 
know  that  there  is  no  condition  in  life  in  which 
they  may  not  be  useful,  and  that  God  has  often 

6 


42  Essay  mi  Sheep. 

made  a  simple  farmer,  or  a  plain  mechanic,  the 
means  of  diffusing  his  blessings  upon  mankind. 
Many  centuries  elapsed  after  this  in  which  we 
are  left  in  the  dark  as  to  the  history  of  agricul- 
ture in  Spain.  The  conquest  of  the  country 
by  the  Goths,  and  the  subsequent  reduction  of 
it  by  the  Moors,  together  with  the  long  wars 
between  the  latter  and  the  native  Spaniards, 
have  cast  a  veil  over  their  history;  but  as  the 
Moors  were  industrious  agriculturalists,  and 
kept  up  their  connection  with  Africa  till  iheir 
first  conquest  by  the  Spaniards,  it  may  be  pre- 
sumed that  they  pursued  the  path  marked  out 
by  Columella.  It  is  probable,  however,  that 
during  that  disastrous  period  which  preceded 
their  expulsion,  the  farther  improvement  of 
this  useful  race  of  sheep  had  been  neglected ; 
and  as  in  human  affairs  scarce  any  thing  is 
stationary,  it  is  also  probable  that  they  were 
suffered  to  degenerate :  for  we  find,  as  I  have 
said,  Pedro  the  fourth,  more  than  thirteen  hun- 
dred years  after  the  death  of  Columella,  reviv- 
ing his  experiments  on  an  enlarged  scale,  and 
introducing  a  great  number  of  sheep  from  Bar- 
bary.  His  efforts  were  crowned  with  success, 
and  Spain  became  in  the  fourteenth  century 
what  she  had  been  in  the  time  of  the  Romans, 
famous  for  the  fineness  of  her  wool.     The  race 


Essay  on  Sheep,  43 

was  again  renewed  from  Africa  by  Cardinal 
Ximenes,  two  hundred  years  afterwards.  From 
these  circumstances  it  is  highly  probable  that 
Spain  owes  her  Merino  race  to  the  mixture  of 
her  native  sheep  with  those  of  Barbary,  though 
(as  often  happens)  neither,  in  their  native  state, 
mlay  be  equal  to  that  produced  from  the  union 
of  both.  This  may  account  for  the  sheep  of 
Spain  being  at  present  superior  to  those  of  Bar- 
bary, though  in  part  descended  from  them. 

The  wool  of  the  Barbary  sheep  is  glossy  and 
fine  (at  least  such  as  I  have  seen  of  it),  but 
wants  the  curl  of  Spanish  wool.  I  may  here 
mention  a  fact  which  in  some  Sort  supports  this 
assertion,  though  an  isolated  fact  ought  not 
perhaps  to  serve  as  the  foundation  for  a  theory. 
I  have  in  my  flock  a  ewe  that  is  descended 
from  a  Barbary  ram.  Her  fleece  is  long, 
straight,  and  fine,  and  in  every  particular  ex- 
cept the  last  unlike  the  Spanish  wool.  I  have 
three  lambs  from  her  by  a  Merino  ram;  the 
wool  of  each  of  these  is  nearly  equal  in  fine- 
ness, softness,  and  elasticity,  to  that  of  their 
sire,  and  would  at  least  be  taken  for  that  of  a 
seven-eight  breed  Merino. 

I  cannot  think,  with  Mr.  Anderson,  that  the 
fine  wool  of  Spain  is  derived  from  the  stock  of 
England,  though  it  may  be  admitted  that  Bri- 


44  Essm^  on  Sheep, 

tish  sheep  have  been  imported  into  Spain,  as  it 
appears  by  custom-house  entries  that  English 
wool  was  also  exported  to  Spain,  which  was  at 
that  time  a  manufacturing  country,  and  sup- 
plied England  with  cloth.  For  many  of  their 
manufactories  the  long  wool  of  England  might 
have  been  found  useful,  and  it  might  also  have 
been  thought  desirable  to  propagate  the  breed 
that  bore  it,  without  any  intention  of  degrad- 
ing the  Merino  breed.  It  is  possible  that  the 
long-woolled  sheep  of  Spain,  which  are  called 
Choaroes,  and  are  much  larger  than  the  Me- 
rino, are  the  descendants  of  the  English  sheep, 
mixed  with  the' common  sheep  of  the  country. 
Had  England  possessed  in  the  fifteenth  century, 
the  fine  race  which  is  now  the  pride  of  Spain, 
it  is  hardly  possible  to  suppose  that  so  shortly 
after  as  the  reign  of  Henry  the  eighth,  the 
breed  should  be  so  entirely  lost  as  to  induce  that 
prince  to  import,  by  permission  of  Charles  the 
fifth,  three  thousand  Spanish  sheep,  and  to  dis- 
perse them  through  his  kingdom,  placing  them 
under  the  care  and  superintendence  of  com* 
missioners  specially  appointed  for  that  purpose. 
In  fact,  it  was  not  till  the  reign  of  his  father 
that  woollen  cloths  were  manufactured  in 
England  to  any  extent,  and  none  1  believe  were 
for  many  years  after  exported   from  thence. 


Essay  on  Sheep,  45 

Under  these  circumstances  more  attention 
would  naturally  be  paid  to  the  carcase,  and  to 
the  quantity  than  to  the  quality  ot"  the  wool. 
In  size  and  weight  of  fleece  the  English  sheep, 
generally  speaking,  exceed  that  of  any  other 
part  of  Europe. 

Sicily  also  possesses  a  breed  of  fine-woolled 
sheep,  which  migrate  like  those  of  Spain,  but 
are  inferior  to  them  in  the  quality  of  the  wool. 
Those,  with  most  of  the  sheep  I  have  seen  in 
Italy,  have  pendent  ears.  From  this  circum- 
stance I  presume  they  have  been  longer  domes- 
ticated than  those  of  Spain  or  other  parts  of 
Europe.  And  as  this  country  was  originally 
settled  by  the  Grecians,  it  is  highly  probable 
that  the  present  race  is  from  the  stock  of  the 
first  colonists:  for,  extraordinary  as  it  may 
appear,  notwithstanding  the  various  changes 
which  that  country  has  undergone,  its  agricul- 
ture seems  at  the  present  to  be  what  the  poets 
describe  it  to  have  been  two  thousand  years 
ago;  and  the  implements  of  husbandry  dug 
up  at  Pompeia  and  Herculaneum  are  evidently 
the  models  of  those  now  in  use  in  the  vicinity 
of  Naples.  I  consider  pendent  ears  as  a  proof 
of  very  ancient  domesticity,  because  I  believe 
all  wild  animals  carry  theirs  erect;  and  most, 
if  not  all  of  them,  have  the  power  of  moving 


4^6  Essay  on  Sheep. 

them  to  the  point  from  which  the  sound  is 
derived.  When  they  cease  to  be  their  own 
protectors,  and  rely  upon  man  both  for  defence 
and  support,  the  organs  given  them  with  a 
view  to  these  objects,  are  gradually  impaired, 
and  the  debility  which  results  from  their  inac- 
tion changes  their  very  form. 

The  sheep  of  France  and  Germany  have 
nothing  particularly  worthy  of  notice,  if  we 
except  the  improvements  made  within  a  short 
period  by  the  introduction  of  Spanish  sheep, 
on  which  I  shall  have  occasion  to  speak  more 
at  large  hereafter.  The  common  sheep  of  the 
country  have  in  general  coarse  fleeces,  and  not 
very  heavy  ones.  Those  of  Rousillon  and 
Berry  must,  however,  be  excepted.  The  first 
is  in  some  degree  mixed  with  the  Merino,  and 
partake  of  their  qualities;  and  the  wool  of 
Berry  is  generally  estimated  at  about  eighteen 
cents  the  pound,  while  that  of  the  common 
flocks  does  not  exceed  seven  cents.  In  many 
parts  of  the  country  their  carcases  are  large 
and  heavy;  but  that  held  in  the  highest  esti- 
mation is  from  Brittany,  which  is  extremely 
small,  but  the  best  flavoured  mutton  I  have  ever 
met  with.  In  French  Flanders  they  have  a 
large  race  of  long-woolled  sheep.  They  are 
not  very  numerous,  requiring  richer  pastures 


Essay  on  Sheep.  47 

and  better  treatment  than  sheep  generally  re- 
ceive in  France.  Before  I  quit  France  it  may 
be  proper  to  speak  of  the  introduction  into  that 
country  of  the  Merino  sheep,  and  of  their 
great  improvement. 

It  having  been  fully  ascertained,  by  a  variety 
of  experiments,  patronized  by  the  administra- 
tion, and  conducted  by  enlightened  agricultu- 
ralists, that  the  Merino  sheep  might  be  accli- 
mated in  France,  without  any  change  in  their 
wool,  application  was  made  by  Lewis  the  six- 
teenth to  the  King  of  Spain,  for  permission  to 
export  from  thence  a  number  of  Merinoes. 
This  was  not  only  granted,  but  orders  were 
given  by  the  Spanish  Monarch  that  they  should 
be  selected  from  the  finest  flocks  in  Spain.  In 
the  year  1786  four  hundred  rams  and  ewes 
arrived  in  France,  under  the  care  of  Spanish 
shepherds.  These  are  said  to  have  been  so 
much  superior  to  any  that  had  before  been  in- 
troduced, as  not  to  admit  of  any  comparison 
between  them,  which  will  easily  be  credited 
by  those  who  know  the  difference  between 
picked  sheep  and  a  whole  flock  taken  together, 
even  when  the  sheep  are  of  one  race.  But  the 
Merinoes  differ  essentially  from  each  other  even 
in  Spain;  those  of  Castile  unite  size  and  beauty 
to  fineness  of  wool;  the  Leonese  and  the  Sego- 


48  Essay  on  Sheep, 

vians  equal  them  in  the  latter  particular,  but 
fall   far  short  in  the  former;   but  the  sheep  of 
the  Escurial  are  the  finest  in  Spain.     The  dif- 
ference between  the  Merinoes  that  compose  the 
national  flocks  of  France  and  those  lately  im- 
ported  from   Spain,  under  the  treaty  of  Bale 
(though  these  also  are  picked  sheep),  is  so  strik- 
ing,  that  we  can  hardly  attribute  it  solely  to  the 
care  and  attention  which  they  have  received  in 
France,  though  much  is  doubtless  due  to  this 
circumstance.    Fortunately  for  France,  the  im- 
provement in  sheep  begun  under  Lewis  the  six- 
teenth was  continued  through  a  revolution,  in 
which  almost  every  other  useful  institution  was 
involved  in  ruin.     A  committee  of  asfriculture 
was  formed  in  the  Convention,  and  under  their 
protection  the  amelioration  of  the  Merino  flocks 
happily  progressed.     From  these  flocks  a  num- 
ber of  rams  and  ewes  are  annually  sold,  after 
the  finest  are  picked  out  to  keep  up  the  original 
stock.     It  is  very  conceivable  that  this  attention 
must  contribute  greatly  to  the  improvement  of 
their  stock.      It  is  remarkable,  that  though  in 
pursuance  of  an  article  in  the  treaty  of  Bale, 
five  thousand  Spanish  sheep  have  been  intro- 
duced by  the  government,  and  a  great  number 
by  individuals,  and  for  the  term  of  twenty  years 
rams  and  ewes  have  been  annually  sold  from 


Essay  en  Sheep.  49 

the  national  flocks,  yet  the  price  of  rams  drawn 
froni  those  flocks  is  daily  increasing.  This 
fact  shows  in  a  very  striking  point  of  view  the 
.advantages  of  this  breed  of  sheep,  since  they 
have  been  enabled  to  conquer  the  prejudices 
even  of  the  French  peasantry,  who  adopt  im- 
provements very  slowly.  Having  mentioned 
the  superiority  in  size  and  beauty  of  the  national 
flocks  of  France,  it  may  be  satisfactory  to  know 
the  quality  of  their  wool.  This  I  shall  give 
from  the  report  of  M.  Gilbert,  one  of  the  mem- 
bers, to  the  National  Institute  of  France. 

*^  The  stock  from  which  the  flock  of  Ram- 
''  bouillet  was  derived,  was  composed  of  indi- 
"  viduals  beautiful  beyond  any  that  had  ever 
"  before  been  brought  from  Spain ;  but  having 
"  been  chosen  from  a  great  number  of  flocks,  in 
"  different  parts  of  the  kingdom,  they  were  dis- 
"  tinguished  by  very  striking  local  differences, 
^^  which  formed  a  medly  disagreeable  to  the 
"  eye,  but  immaterial  as  it  effected  their  quali- 
**  ty:  these  characteristic  differences  have  been 
"  melted  into  each  other,  by  their  successive  al- 
"  liances,  and  from  thence  have  resulted  a  race 
*'  which  perhaps  resembles  none  of  those  which 
"  composed  the  primitive  stock,  but  which  cer- 
"  tainly  does  not  yield  in  any  circumstance  to 
"  the  most  beautiful  in  point  of  size,  form,  and 

7 


50  Essay  on  Sheep. 

^^  strength ;  or  In  the  fineness,  length,  softnessv 
*'  strength,  and  abundance  of  the  fleece.    The 
"  manufacturers  and  dealers  in  wool,  who  came 
"  in  numbers  to  Rambouillet  this  year  (1796), 
"  to  purchase,  unanimously  agreed  to  this  fact, 
*^  at  the  very  time  that  they  were  combining  to 
*'  keep  down  the   price.      The  comparison  I 
^'  have  made  with  the  most  scrupulous  atten- 
''  tion,  between  this  wool  and  the  highest  priced 
''  of  that  drawn  from  Spain,  authorizes  me  to 
*'  declare  that  of  Rambouillet  superior;  unless, 
"  as  they  pretend,  the  best  of  the  Spanish  wool 
"  is  not  imported  into  France,  but  reserved  for 
'*  England  and  Holland ;  an  assertion  which  is 
"  certainly  very  improbable,  and  which,  if  true, 
"  would  argue  a  great  superiority  in  our  manu- 
"  factories;   since  the  superiority  of  our  fine 
"  cloths  over  those  of  any  other  nation   has 
"  never  been  contested.    All  the  wool  of  Spain 
''  that  I   have  examined,    not  excepting   the 
^*  prime  Leonese,  the  most  esteemed  of  any, 
'^  appeared  to  me  to  contain  much  more  jar 
*^  than  that  of  Rambouillet.  Every  thing  seems 
**  to  evince  that  we  shall  soon  totally  banish 
''  this  hard  intractable  hair,  so  hurtful  to  the 
"  manufacture,  from  our  fleeces.     Ahiiost  all 
^'  the  fleeces  of  the  rams  of  two  years  and  up- 
*^  wards,  weigh  from  twelve  to  thirteen  pounds; 


Essay  on  Sheep,  5 1 

^'  but  the  mean  weight,  taking  rams  and  ewes 
"  together,  has  not  quite  attained  to  eight 
"  pounds,  after  deducting  the  tags  and  the 
/*  wool  of  the  belly,  which  are  sold  separately." 
It  is  proper  to  observe  here,  that  the  French 
pound  is  about  one-twelfth  heavier  than  the 
English;  but  at  the  same  time  to  note,  that, 
from  the  general  custom  of  folding  the  sheep 
in  France,  of  feeding  them  in  fallows,  and 
wintering  them  in  houses,  they  are  very  dirty, 
and  their  fleeces  of  course  proportionably  hea- 
vier: the  loss  in  washing  is  about  60  per  cent, 
so  that  the  average  weight  of  the  ram's  fleece 
would  be,  when  washed  and  scoured,  about  six 
American  pounds,  exclusive  of  tags  and  belly 
wool. 

Before  I  quit  Europe  it  may  be  proper  to 
lake  a  cursory  view  of  the  English  sheep,  since, 
next  to  Spain,  no  country  in  that  quarter  of  the 
globe  is  so  celebrated  for  its  wool;  nor  is  there 
any  that  have  paid  so  much  attention  to  the 
improvement  of  their  stock;  insomucli  that 
Young,  in  his  Annals  of  Agriculture,  asserts, 
that  Bakewell,  in  the  year  1789,  was  in  the 
receipt  of  three  thousand  guineas  a  year  for  the 
hire  of  rams,  seven  of  which  brought  him  two 
thousand  guineas.  A  spirit  like  this,  attended 
with  proportionate  wealth,  could  not  fail,  in 


52  Essay  on  Sheep, 

any  country,  to  effect  the  most  important  im- 
provements. It  would  be  tedious  and  unne- 
cessary to  enter  into  a  minute  enumeration  of 
all  the  varieties  produced  by  different  crosses, 
and  other  accidental  causes  in  a  kingdom  which 
contains  such  a  variety  of  soil  and  climate  as 
Great-Britain,  and  in  which  the  farmers  have 
endeavoured  to  conform  the  breed  to  their  situ- 
ation; and  the  rather,  as  I  have  already  no- 
ticed many  of  them  in  a  paper  read  to  and 
published  by  the  Society  of  Useful  Arts.  An- 
derson divides  the  native  British  sheep  into 
three  sorts;  the  Highland  breed,  or  rather  the 
breed  of  the  Western  Islands,  those  in  the  High- 
lands being  so  far  adulterated  as  not  to  be  found 
in  their  original  purity.  These  sheep,  though 
delicate  in  appearance,  are  small  and  hardy. 
The  wool  is  distinguished  by  a  silky  gloss  to 
the  eye,  and  a  peculiar  softness  to  the  touch. 
It  is  not  frizzled  like  the  Spanish,  but  rather 
longer,  and  gently  waved.  When  compared 
with  the  best  Spanish  wool  in  the  London  mar- 
ket, it  was  found  to  be  finer  in  the  proportion 
of  seven  to  five.  Stockings  have  been  made  of 
it  at  Aberdeen  that  sold  at  five  and  six  guineas 
a  pair.  The  wool  of  this  breed,  however,  is 
either  naturally,  or  by  adulteration,  very  much 
mixed  with  hair  or  jar,  so  as  to  render  the  se- 


Essay  on  Sheep,  53 

pamtion  very  difficult.  The  second  is  the  short- 
woolled  sheep  of  England  and  Wales,  that  yield 
the  clothing  wool:  of  these  there  are  very 
great  varieties.  Few  however  that  I  have  met 
with  yield  better  wool  than  the  common  sheep 
of  our  own  country,*  and  in  general  their  wool 
is  much  worse,  with  the  exception  of  one  or 
tw^o  races,  whose  fleeces  are  very  short  and  light, 
and  sell  at  about  forty-eight  cents  the  pound. 
The  South  Down  is  at  present  the  favourite, 
next  to  the  Leicestershire  or  Bakewell  breed. 
The  South  Down,  both  for  size,  quantity,  and 
quality  of  wool,  very  much  resembles  the  best 
of  our  sheep  in  the  hands  of  good  farmers. 
Their  fleeces  weigh  from  three  and  a  half 
to  four  pounds,  and  sell  at  thirty  cents  per 
pound.  Neither  of  these  breeds  yield  wool  of 
sufficient  fineness  for  broadcloths  of  the  first, 
second,  and  third  qualities;  these  are  all  made 
from  Spanish  wool  of  different  degrees  of  fine- 
ness, without  admixture.  Of  this  wool  near 
seven  millions  of  pounds  are  annually  imported 
into  Britain.  The  third  distinct  breed  of  Eng- 
land, and  which  is  peculiarly  their  own,  is  the 
sheep  that  carry  long  wool  fit  for  combing; 
and  in  this  race  they  excel,  I  believe,  every 


*  I  speak  of  the  Northern,  not  being  well  acquainted  with  the  Southern 
States. 


54f  Essay  on  Sheep, 

other  part  of  the  world.  The  wool  of  some 
of  this  family  is  very  coarse,  and  only  fit  for 
blankets  and  carpets,  and  sells  in  England  at 
about  nine  cents  the  pound ;  but  then  the  sheep 
are  extremely  large,  and  their  fleeces  propor- 
tionably  so,  averaging  about  twelve  pounds  the 
flock  round,  and  some  have  been  known  to 
carry  above  twenty  pounds.  Young  mentions 
a  fleece  of  twenty-seven  pounds.  Others,  and 
more  valuable  races  of  long-woolled  sheep, 
bear  a  fine  white  silky  fleece,  from  which  the 
finest  worsted  and  camblets  are  made.  This  race 
is  very  numerous,  and  their  wool  may  be  con- 
sidered as  the  true  staple  of  British  wool.  Upon 
this  breed  Bakewell  has  engrafted  his  celebrat- 
ed stock,  or  the  new  Leicestershire  breed.  The 
principle  upon  which  he  formed  his  system  was, 
that  those  animals  were  most  valuable  which 
carried  their  flesh  upon  the  most  valuable 
parts,  and  were  at  the  same  time  maintained 
with  the  least  food.  Wool  was  not  his  object, 
and  accordingly  his  sheep  are  of  the  long- 
wooUed  breed,  with  wool  of  moderate  length 
and  medium  fineness,  and  sells  for  nine-pence 
sterling.  Fat  upon  the  rump  and  ribs  he  con- 
siders as  more  important  than  tallow,  and  ac- 
cordingly he  has  produced  sheep  on  which  it 
is  there  formed  five  or  six  inches  thick.     His 


Essay  on  Sheep »  55 

sheep  are,  however,  on  that  account,  less  valu- 
able to  the  epicure  than  to  the  labourer,  with 
whom  they  in  some  sort  supply  the  place  of 
pork.  He  insists  that  they  require  less  food 
than  other  sheep;  yet,  in  a  comparative  trial 
made  between  them  and  a  Merino  ram  by 
Young,  it  appeared  that  they  eat  more,  and 
gained  less  weight  than  the  Merino,  in  the  pro- 
portion of  three  to  two.  Small  bones,  a  straight 
back,  and  broad  chine,  with  short  legs,  are  the 
favourite  points  in  this  new  breed;  and,  indeed, 
they  contribue  very  much  to  improve  the  ap- 
pearance of  the  animal,  and  should  be  sought 
in  whatever  breed  we  cultivate,  if  they  can  be 
reconciled  with  the  other  essential  qualities 
that  we  seek  In  sheep.  Of  the  advantage  of 
short  legs  I  have,  however,  great  doubt  in  a 
country  which  abounds  in  snow.  Some  judg- 
ment may  be  formed  of  the  nature  of  British 
flocks  by  the  average  prices  of  their  native 
wool,  which  Gov.  Pownal,  in  a  letter  to  Arthur 
Young,  states  as  follows:  Coarse  seven  and  a 
half-pence,  common  eight  and  a  half-pence, 
fine  eleven-pence  the  whole  fleece;  at  that 
time  they  paid  six  shillings  and  six-pence  ster- 
ling per  pound  for  Spanish  wool,  and  now 
pay  seven  shillings  and  three-pence. 

It  would  almost  have  been  unnecessary  to 


56  Essay  on  Sheep* 

notice  the  American  breeds  of  sheep,  since 
those  who  will  interest  themselves  sufficiently 
in  the  subject  to  read  this  essay,  can  hardly  be 
unacquainted  with  the  breeds  of  their  native 
country,  had  it  not  been  that  three  kinds  of 
sheep,  till  lately  unnoticed,  have  attracted  the 
public  attention;  the  Otter,  the  Arlington, 
and  the  Smith's  Island  sheep.  The  Otter  sheep, 
it  is  said,  were  first  discovered  in  some  island 
on  our  eastern  coast,  where  I  cannot  precisely 
say,  and  from  thence  they  have  spread  to  the 
adjoining  states.  The  sheep  of  this  breed  are 
rather  long-bodied  than  large,  and  will  weigh, 
like  the  other  sheep  of  the  country,  about  fif- 
teen pounds  a  quarter  when  killed  from  grass* 
Their  wool  is  of  a  medium  fineness,  and  a  me- 
dium length;  it  is  neither  properly  short-cloth- 
ing wool,  nor  is  it  of  such  length  as  to  be  ad- 
vantageously combed.  But  what  particularly 
characterizes  these  sheep,  and  from  which,  to- 
gether with  the  length  of  their  bodies,  they 
probably  took  their  name,  is  the  extreme  short- 
ness of  their  legs,  which  are  also  turned  out  in 
such  a  manner  as  to  render  then  rickety.  They 
cannot  run  or  jump,  and  even  walk  with  some 
difficuUy.  They  appear  as  if  their  legs  had 
been  broken,  and  set  by  an  awkward  surgeon. 
To  me  there  is  something  so  disgusting  in  the 


Essay  on  Sheep.  57 

feight  of  a  flock  of  these  poor  lame  animals,  that 
even  a  strong  conviction  of  their  superior  utility 
could  hardly  induce  me  to  keep  them.  The 
only  advantage  that  can  result  from  this  defor- 
mity, is,  that  they  cannot  pass  over  stone  walls, 
and  are  confined  by  slight  fences.  Whether 
this  will  counterbalance  the  sufferings  to  which 
they  must  be  liable  in  a  deep  snow,  the  impos- 
sibility of  driving  them  to  distant  pastures  or  to 
market,  and  the  facility  with  which  they  may 
be  destroyed  by  dogs,  is  a  matter  of  calculation 
with  economical  farmers.  Those,  however, 
who  possess  a  grain  of  taste,  who  take  a  pleasure 
in  the  sportive  gambols  of  their  lambs,  and  who 
delight  rather  in  perfecting  than  in  maiming 
the  works  of  nature,  will  seldom  be  induced  to 
propagate,  beyond  what  is  absolutely  necessary, 
an  infirmity  which  abridges  the  short  enjoy- 
ments of  a  useful  and  helpless  animal. 

From  these  sheep  I  turn  with  pleasure  to  the 
Arlington  long-woolled  sheep.  These  Mr. 
Custis,  who  was  the  original  breeder  of  them, 
informs  me  were  derived  from  the  stock  of  that 
distinguished  farmer,  soldier,  statesman,  and 
patriot,  Washington;  who  had  collected  at 
Mount- Vernon  whatever  he  believed  useful  to 
the  agriculture  of  his  country;  and,  among 
ether  animals,  a  Persian  ram,  which  Mr.  Custr^ 

8 


5  8  Essay  on  Sheep. 

describes  as  being  very  large  and  well  formed, 
parrying  wool  of  great  length,  but  of  a  coarse 
staple.  This  stock,  intermixed  with  the  Bake- 
well,  are  the  source  from  which  the  fine  Arling- 
ton sheep  are  derived ;  some  of  which,  he  says,= 
carry  wool  fourteen  inches  in  length,  and  are 
formed  upon  the  Bake  well  model.  I  have  never 
seen  these  sheep,  but  from  Mr.  Custis's  descrip- 
tion, and  from  the  produce  of  the  wool  at  the 
public  shearings,  I  have  no  doubt  that  they  are 
a  valuable  race,  and  such  as  merit  the  attention 
of  those  whose  farms  yield  a  good  rich  bite  of 
grass;  for  upon  any  other  I  would  never  recom- 
mend long-woolled  sheep.  The  sample  of  wool 
which  Mr.  Custis  sent  me  from  this  stock  pos- 
sessed every  ingredient  which  is  esteemed  in 
combiiig  wool.  It  was  fine  for  the  sort,  soft, 
silky,  and  beautifully  white.  It  is  admirably 
calculated  for  hose,  camblets,  serges,  and  other 
fine  worsted  fabricks;  and  it  would  be  a  pity  to 
see  It  diverted  to  any  other  objects,  or  to  the 
making  of  fine  cloths,  for  which  it  appears  to 
me  less  adapted.  It  is,  however,  matter  of 
surprise,  that  a  Persian  ram  should  be  the  pa- 
rent stock  from  which  this  valuable  breed  is 
derived.  The  wool  of  Persia  has  always  been 
considered  as  among  the  finest  in  tlic  world; 
the  white  sells  nearly  upon  a  par  with  that  of 


Essay  on  Sheep,  59 

Sj3ain  at  the  London  market,  and  the  red  some- 
what higher.  Either  there  must  have  been 
some  mistake  as  to  the  phice  from  which  the 
ram  came,  or  Persia  must  possess  two  distinct 
breeds  of  sheep:  indeed,  it  is  not  Improbable 
that  the  southern  parts  of  Persia,  upon  the  In- 
dian Ocean,  and  Gulf  of  Ormus,  may  contain 
the  large  coarse-woolled  sheep  that  are  com- 
monly found  in  Africa.  For  the  Smith's  Island 
wool  we  are  also  indebted  to  the  researches  of 
Mr.  Custis;  from  whose  valuable  pamphlet  1 
have  extracted  the  following  account  of  it: 

'^  I  come  now  to  speak  of  Smith's  Island  wool, 
*'  a  discovery  from  which  will  arise  the  happiest 
^*  effects  to  my  country,  and  yield  the  most 
'^  grateful  sensations  to  myself.  This  island 
**  (which  is  the  property  of  Mr.  Custis)  lies  in 
'^  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  immediately  at  the  east- 
*^  tern  cape  of  Virginia,  and  contains  between 
*'  three  and  four  thousand  acres.  The  soil, 
'*  though  sandy,  is  in  many  parts  extremely 
"  rich,  and  productive  of  a  succulent  herbage, 
''  which  supports  the  stock  at  all  seasons.  About 
''  one  half  of  the  island  is  in  wood,  which  is 
**  pierced  with  glades  running  parallel  with  the 
*'  sea,  and  of  several  miles  in  extent.  These 
"  glades  arc  generally  wet,  and  being  completc- 
^'  ly  sheltered  by  the  wood  on  either  side,  pre- 


^^  Essay  on  Sheep, 

"  serve  their  vegetation  in  a  great  measure 
*^  through  the  winter,  and  thereby  yield  a  sup- 
"  port  to  the  stock.  Along  the  sea  coast  arc 
"  also  abundant  scopes  of  pasturage,  producing 
*'  a  short  grass  in  summer,  which  is  peculiarly 
"  grateful  to  the  palate  of  most  animals,  and 
^'  particularly  so  to  sheep.  The  length  of  this 
'^  island  is  estimated  at  fourteen  miles,  which 
"  gives  that  variety  and  change  of  pasture  so 
**  necessary  to  the  system  of  sheep  farming. 
"  Within  it  are  various  shrubs  and  plants,  which 
'^  the  animal  appears  to  browse  on  with  great 
*^  relish,  particularly  the  myrtle  bushes,  with 
*'  which  the  island  abounds.  The  access  to 
"  s^lt  also  forms  a  material  feature  in  the  many 
''  attributes  which  Smith's  Island  possesses. 

"  The  origin  of  the  Smith's  Island  sheep  can- 
"  not  be  precisely  ascertained,    but  they  are 
"  supposed  to  be  the  indigenal  race  of  the  coun- 
"  try,  put  thereon  about  twenty  years  since,  and 
''  improved  by  the  hand  of  nature.     When  wc 
^*  compare  Smith's  Island  wool  with  the  native 
^'  wool  of  the  country  at  large,  we  are  lost  in 
*'  astonishment  at  the  wonderful  interposition 
"  of  providence  in  our  behalf,  which  serves  to 
^'  show  what  benefits  we  enjoy,  and  how  little 
*'  we  have   estimated  the  gifts.     The  Smith's 
''  Island  wool  is,  without  question,  one  of  the 


Essay  on  Sheep,  6\ 

^*  finest  in  the  world,  and  has  excited  the  praise 
"•^  and  astonishment  of  all  who  have  seen  it.  To 
"  recapitulate  the  various  opinions  given  of  its 
"  merits  is  unnecessary.  It  only  remains  to  be 
*^  judged  in  Europe,  whither  a  specimen  has 
"  been  sent,  to  determine  its  value  when  com- 
''  pared  with  the  famous  Merino,  hitherto  the 
**  unrivalled  material  in  the  woollen  manufac- 
**  ture.  The  Smith's  Island  is  a  great  deal 
'^  longer  than  the  Spanish,  being  in  full  growth 
*'  from  five  to  nine  inches  in  length,  and  in 
*'  some  instances  more.  In  quantity  it  is  also 
**  vastly  superior,  as  the  sheep  yield  twice  as 
"  much,  and  in  some  instances  more.  And, 
"  lastly,  the  size  and  figure  of  the  animal  ad- 
"  mits  of  no  comparison,  being  highly  in  favour 
"  of  the  Smith's  Island.  The  only  remaining 
"  question  Is  the  texture.  If  the  Merino  is 
"  finer  in  grain,  the  Smith's  Island  is  so  fine  as 
^*  to  answer  every  purpose  to  which  the  other 
"  can  be  appropriated,  and  so  much  larger  in 
"  quantity  as  to  yield  a  better  profit  lo  the  bree- 
"  ders.  No  cloth  which  the  Merino  manufac- 
''  tures  will  be  disgraced  by  the  introduction  of 
"the  Smith's  Island;  and  many  fabricks  ma- 
*'  nufactured  by  the  one  at  a  great  price,  can  be 
*'  manufactured  of  the  Smith's  Island  at  much 
"  less.     The  Smith's  Island  is  as  white  as  snow, 


62  Essay  on  Sheep. 

*'  and  perfectly  silky  and  soft  lo  the  touch,  and 
"  of  delicate  grain/'  Mr.  Custis  adds,  that 
these  sheep  are  shorn  twice  a  year.  I  have 
written  to  him  to  know  why  that  uncommon 
mode  of  shearing  has  been  pursued.  He  in- 
forms me  that  he  would  inquire  and  answer  my 
query;  but  I  have  not  yet  been  favoured  with 
the  information  I  wish  on  this  important  sub- 
ject. 

Mr.  Custis  not  having  mentioned  in  his  pam- 
phlet the  quantity  of  wool  shorn  at  each  time, 
I  am  enabled  in  part  to  do  it  from  one  of  the 
letters  which  he  has  done  me  the  favour  to 
write  me.  He  says  the  best  of  these  sheep  have 
yielded  four  pounds  at  a  shearing,  making  an 
aggregate  of  eight  pounds  per  year.  It  appears 
to  me  Mr.  Custis  is  not  fully  informed  eitlier  of 
the  fineness  or  the  quantity  of  wool  produced 
by  the  improved  Merino,  when  he  supposes 
that  eight  pounds  of  unwashed  wool  from  the 
best  of  his  sheep  is  more  than  double  the  pro- 
duce of  the  Merino.  I  have  shorn  from  one 
of  my  Merino  rams  of  the  improved  PYcnch 
breed,  eight  and  an  half  pounds  of  unwashed 
wool,  and  from  another  seven  pounds  and  three 
quarters;  though  my  pastures  being  extensive, 
my  sheep,  kept  free  from  fihli  in  the  winter, 
are  remarkably  clean  when  they  come  to  be 


Essay  on  Sheep,  63 

shorn.  In  France,  from  twelve  to  thirteen  pounds 
is  said  to  be  the  average  fleece  of  the  rams 
form  the  national  flock ;  but  then  their  sheep  are 
very  dirt}-,  for  the  reasons  I  have  mentioned.  I 
should  also  add,  that  the  price  of  my  Merino 
wool  has  risen  from  one  dollar  and  twenty-five 
cents,  at  w^hich  I  sold  when  I  wrote  to  Mr. 
Custis,  to  two  dollars.  Since  the  hatters  and 
clothiers  have  examined  its  texture,  forty-four 
and  one-half  yards  of  fine  close-wove  cloth, 
forty-five  inches  wide,  as  it  came  from  the  loom, 
have  been  made  from  sixteen  pounds  and  three 
quarters  of  it. 

I  have  given  these  extracts  from  Mr.  Custis's 
valuable  pamphlet,  because  I  think  it  important 
that  the  country  should  know  its  resources,  and 
be  enabled  to  select  a  stock  adapted  to  their  soil 
and  to  their  wants.  1  cannot,  however,  agree 
with  him  in  sentiment  (as  far  as  I  can  form 
mine  from  the  sample  he  sent  me),  that  the 
Smith's  Island  wool  can  be  introduced  into  any 
of  the  manufactures  in  which  the  Merino  w^ool 
is  used.  It  is  soft,  white,  and  silky,  but  neither 
so  fine  or  soft  as  the  Merino  wool.  Mr.  Custis 
has,  however,  taken  the  proper  method  to  as- 
certain its  value,  by  sending  samples  to  Europe, 
and  will,  I  trust,  furnish  the  public  with  the 
result  of  his  inquiries.     I  cannot  omit  this  oc- 


64f  Essay  on  Sheep. 

casion  to  express  the  high  opinion  which  I,  io 
common  with  every  other  person,  entertain  of 
Mr.  Custis's  patriotism,  and  of  his  animated 
exertions  for  the  improvement  of  this  most 
important  branch  of  our  rural  economy. 

There  still  remains  a  breed  of  sheep  to  be 
noticed,  which  might  indeed  more  properly 
have  been  mentioned  before — the  Thibet  or 
Cassimere  sheep.  These  are  said  to  carry  finer 
wool  than  those  of  Spain ;  but  from  their  remote 
inland  situation  they  are  little  known,  though 
I  think  I  have  been  informed  that  one  was 
brought  into  England  either  by  Lord  Cornwallis 
or  the  Marquis  of  Wellesley.  We  may  form 
some  judgment  of  the  fineness  of  their  wool  by 
the  shawls  that  are  imported  from  India,  and 
which  we  have  whimsically  called  camel's 
hair  shawls.  These  fine  cloths  are  made  for 
turbans,  and  are  of  two  sorts;  the  finest,  I  be- 
lieve, never  go  out  of  India,  as  we  may  judge 
by  comparing  those  we  meet  wilh  to  Tavcrncr'sf 
account  of  one  presented  to  the  Grand  Mogul 
of  sixty  yards  in  length,  which  was  folded  in  a 
cocoanut  shell.  The  best  arc  made  from  the 
wool  plucked  from  the  breast  of  a  wild  animal 
which  is  not  particularly  described,  but  which 
probably,  as  it  is  a  native  of  the  mountains,  is 
either  the  Vigone  or  some  animal  of  the  same 


Essay  on  Sheep,  65 

species.  The  other,  which  compose  the  finest 
exported  from  India,  is  made  from  the  wool  of 
the  Cassimere  and  little  Thibet  sheep,  these 
countries  being  in  the  vicinity  of  each  other. 

Having  taken  a  cursory  view  of  the  different 
breeds  of  sheep,  which  I  conceived  would  af- 
ford matter  of  amusement  to  my  readers,  and 
perhaps  lead  to  deductions  useful  in  the  im- 
provement of  the  breed,  which,  however,  I 
shall  not  attempt  to  make  at  present,  I  will  pro- 
ceed to  such  practical  observations  as  may  be 
found  useful  to  those  who  have  given  less  atten- 
tion to  the  subject  than  I  have  done,  or  who 
have  not  the  means  of  knowing  what  more  ex- 
perienced farmers  have  written  on  the  subject. 


9 


(  ^^  ) 


CHAPTER  II. 


1  HE  United  States  of  America,  particularly 
those  which  lay  to  the  north  of  the  Chesapeake, 
appear  to  me  to  possess  advantages  in  the  breed- 
ing of  sheep  which  are  unequalled  by  those  of 
any  part  of  Europe  which  1  have  seen.  First, 
the  country  is  generally  hilly;  the  hills  covered 
with  a  fine  herbage ;  almost  every  pasture  is  fur- 
nished with  running  water,  and  sheltered  more 
or  less  by  trees  against  the  summer  sun;  the 
enclosures  are  much  more  extensive  than  those 
which  are  found  in  the  few  enclosed  counties  of 
Europe;  where,  except  in  England  and  Hol- 
land, scarce  an  enclosure  is  to  be  seen;  and  in 
these  countries  they  are  so  small  as  to  be  ill 
adapted  to  sheep;  which,  on  that  account,  very 
generally  run  on  commons.  Where  there  are 
no  enclosures,  the  sheep  must  necessarily  be 
folded  at  night  at  all  seasons  of  the  year,  a 
practice  extremely  hurtful  to  them.  Again, 
when  they  are  turned  out,  they  must  be  led 
over  fallow  grounds,  or  pick  the  scanty  herbage 
upon  exhausted  fields.      They  must  be  sur- 


Essay  on  Sheep,  67 

rounded  by  shepherds  and  their  dogs,  to  pre- 
vent their  trespassing  upon  the  crops,  which 
have  no  other  protection :  they  must,  of  course, 
be  kept  in  such  close  order  as  never  to  be  with- 
out the  atmosphere  of  each  other's  breath.  What 
wonder  then  is  it  that  our  sheep  are  subject  to 
few  or  none  of  the  diseases  that  so  frequently 
diminish  the  flocks  of  Europe?     It  is  true  that 
Spain  may  be  considered  as  forming  an  excep- 
tion to  what  I  have  said ;   not  because  of  any 
natural  advantage  that  she  enjoys,  other  than  in 
having  made  a  happy  selection  of  her  flocks ; 
but    because    the    whole    agriculture    of   the 
country  has  in  some  sort  been  sacrificed  to  the 
maintenance  of  their  sheep,  as  I  have  already 
stated  in  the  preceding  chapter.     The  price  of 
wool  also  in  this  country  is,  in  proportion  to  the 
quality,   higher  than  in  any  part  of  Europe, 
while  the  value  of  land  is  much  lower.     The 
interest  then  of  the  farmer  with  us  unites  with 
his  patriotism  in  calling  his  attention  to  the  im- 
provement of  his  flock.     In  doing  this,  the  first 
object  must  be  to  adapt  his  breed  to  his  soil  and 
situation.     If  he  lives  in  the  vicinity  of  a  great 
city,   whose  wealthy  inhabitants  will  be  less 
mindful  of  the  value  and  the  price  than  of  the 
rarity  of  an  object,  let  him  adapt  his  flock  to 
the  demand  that  their  taste,   their  whims,   or 


68  Essay  07i  Sheep. 

their  luxury  may  make  upon  it.     His  early 
lambs  will  in  this  case  bring  such  a  price  as  to 
make  it  an  object  to  keep  a  breeding  flock  of 
that  species  of  sheep  which  will  produce  the 
earliest   lambs.      The   most   celebrated    stock 
which  I  know  for  this  purpose  is  the  Dorset- 
shire sheep,    from  which  are  bred  the  house 
lambs  which  supply  the  London  market.   The 
ewes  are  kept  in  high  order,  and  are  put  to  the 
ram  in  the  months  of  May  and  June.     The 
lambs  are  fit  for  market  during  all  the  winter 
months,  and  on  that  account  bring  an  extrava- 
gant price.     They  are  kept  in  the  house  at  all 
times,  and  the  ewes  turned  out,  but  brought  in 
to  them  at  night  and  at  noon.     A  lump  of 
chalk  is  given  to  the  lambs  to  lick,  which  is 
said  to  make  the  meat  white.     When  a  ewe 
loses  her  lamb,  or  it  is  killed  off,  she  is  com- 
pelled to  admit  another,  and  is  held  if  she  re- 
fuses it.     The  lambs  by  this  means  having  both 
a  mother  and  a  foster-mother,   are   rendered 
sooner  fit  for  the  butcher.     The  ewe  is  kept 
upon  the  most  succulent  food  while  she  gives 
milk;  but  it  is  a  rule  among  the  breeders  to 
keep  the  earliest  ewe  lambs  for  stock,  and  it  is 
probably  an  attention  to  this  circumstance  that 
has  produced  a  kind   of  sheep  that  will  lake 
the  ram  at  so  early  a  period.     By  the  same  at- 


Essai/  071  Sheep.  69 

tention  perhaps,  and  by  keeping  both  the  rams 
and  the  ewes  very  high,  a  similar  breed  might 
be  made  among  us,  if  the  original  Dorset- 
shire stock  could  not  be  procured;  though  in 
time  of  peace  there  is  very  little  difficulty  in 
obtaining  them  from  England  by  means  of  the 
smugglers  that  trade  from  Dunkirk,  notwith- 
standing the  high  penalty  which  the  govern- 
ment has  very  ungenerously  annexed  to  their 
exportation. 

If  the  farm  on  which  sheep  are  to  be  reared 
consists  of  wet  or  marshy  ground,  with  rich 
and  luxuriant  grass,  I  would  recommend  that 
the  large  sheep,  bearing  combing  wool,  should 
be  preferred,  since  the  largeness  of  the  carcase 
and  the  quantity  of  the  wool  might,  in  such 
ground,  more  than  compensate  for  a  diminution 
in  the  price  of  the  wool,  if  the  scarcity  of  such 
wool  in  our  country  should  not  (as  might  be 
expected)  enhance  its  value:  in  fact,  we  have 
hitherto  made  very  little  distinction,  and  we 
sell  alike  wool  that  in  England  would  bring  but 
twelve  cents,  and  that  which  in  that  manufactur- 
ing country  would  be  valued  at  thirty-six  cents. 
Hence,  where  the  pastures  are  adapted  to  large, 
long-woolled  sheep,  they  would  for  the  present 
be  highly  valuable,  and  particularly  in  the  vi- 
cinity of  the  sea;  for  I  have  observed,  that  the 


70  Essay  on  Sheep, 

English  sheep  which  have  been  introduced  into 
this  country  degenerate  much  less  on  the  sea 
coast,  than  when  they  are  conveyed  beyond  the 
first  ridge  of  mountains.  England,  Ireland, 
and  Flanders  will  supply  the  stock,  if  it  should 
be  thought  that  those  offered  to  the  public  by 
Mr.  Custis  should  not  fall  within  my  descrip- 
tion. I  should,  however,  both  from  his  account 
of  the  Arlington  long-woolled  breed,  and  from 
the  sample  I  have  seen  of  their  wool,  think  it 
unnecessary  to  look  further  for  a  stock  adapted 
to  the  pastures  in  question.  Their  size  will  in- 
crease with  their  pastures,  and  the  length  of 
their  wool  with  their  size.  For  every  other 
description  of  pasture  I  think  no  doubt  can  be 
entertained  of  the  preference  that  should  be 
given  to  the  Merino  breed.  These  may  be 
found  of  such  size  and  constitution  as  are  adapt- 
ed to  any  ground.  Those  that  are  dry  and 
barren,  such  as  our  shrub-oak  plains,  will 
find  in  the  small  Merino,  which  are  common 
in  most  parts  of  Spain,  a  stock  which  will  not 
only  subsist,  but  thrive  on  such  grounds;  and 
though  their  fleeces  are  lighter,  they  are  not 
less  fine  than  those  of  the  larger  and  more  im- 
proved breeds.  The  faults  in  their  form  will, 
by  an  attentive  breeder,  not  fail  to  be  gradually 
corrected.     From  Spain  may  also  be  procured. 


Essay  07i  Sheep,  7 1 

by  those  who  have  the  means  of  selecting  and 
will  not  spare  expense,  a  larger  breed,  with 
heavier  fleeces  and  better  forms,  and  with 
equally  fine  wool.  I  have  now  in  France  a  few 
that  have  been  so  chosen  in  Spain,  for  which 
a  double  price  was  paid,  and  which  are  of 
uncommon  size  and  beauty:  with  these,  and  a 
number  more  from  the  first  flocks  of  France, 
I  hope  to  enrich  our  country  when  means 
shall  be  afforded  for  bringing  them  out. 

From  France  the  best  stock  may  more  easily 
be  obtained,*  and  being  already  acclimated  to 
that  country,  which  is  more  similar  to  our  own, 
and  used  to  be  fed  on  hay,  and  not  to  migrate, 
there  will  be  less  risk  in  the  importation  and 
in  the  adapting  of  them  to  our  climate  and 
manner  of  keeping.  Of  these  I  have  already 
treated.  I  proceed  to  state  my  ideas  on  the 
best  and  cheapest  mode  of  obtaining  a  Merino 
flock,  or  such  a  portion  of  Merino  blood  as 
shall  instantly  double  the  value  of  a  flock  of 
sheep.  The  high  price  of  Merino  rams,  and 
the  diflSculty  of  procuring  those  of  the  best 
sort,  will  deter  many  farmers  from  entering  at 


*  Colonel  Humphreys,  who  has  probably  seen  both  those  of  France  and 
Spain,  agrees  with  me  in  this  sentiment.  In  his  letter  to  the  Agincultural 
Society  of  Massachusetts,  he  states,  that  the  improved  stock  of  France  yield 
twice  as  much  wool  as  those  of  Spain,  without  any  change  in  the  quality  of 
the  flcecp. 


72  Essay  on  Sheep, 

once  upon  the  enterprise  in  the  most  effectual 
manner;  that  is,  by  procuring  full-blooded  rams 
in  the  first  instance:  and  as  this  essay  is  not 
intended  for  those  whose  wealth  enables  them 
instantly  to  overcome  all  difficulties,  I  shall 
treat  the  subject  upon  so  economical  a  scale  as 
to  be  within  the  means  of  every  man  that  keeps 
a  flock. 

After  having  determined  on  the  kind  of  sheep 
most  proper  for  your  farm,  which  we  will  sup- 
pose to  be  Merino,  carefully  examine  your  ewes, 
and  select  from  them  those  that  have  the  short- 
est or  thickest  coat,  with  the  least  hair  on  the 
hinder  parts,  and  whose  bellies  are  well  co- 
vered with  wool.  Those  whose  wool  is  neither 
long  enough  to  comb,  nor  yet  so  short  as  to  be 
good  carding  wool,  should  be  immediately  sold 
or  exchanged  for  others  of  the  description  I 
have  mentioned.  In  this  there  will  be  no  dif- 
ficulty, because,  generally  speaking,  they  will 
be  the  largest;  and  as  their  long  wool  covers 
their  defects,  they  apparently  are  the  hand- 
somest in  the  flock.  Let  your  ewes  be  at  least 
three  years  old,  as  large  as  can  be  got  of  the 
sort,  belly  large  and  well  covered  with  wool, 
chine  and  loin  broad,  breast  deep,  buttocks 
full,  the  eyes  lively,  the  bag  large,  and  the  teats 
long.     Next  provide  yourself  with  a  ram  pos- 


Essay  on  Sheep »  73 

sessing  as  much  of  the  Merino  blood  as  you  can 
conveniently  aiford  to  purchase;  let  us  suppose 
him  to  be  halt-blooded.  In  choosing  him,  be 
particularly  attentive  to  his  form  and  size,  that 
you  may  not  diminish,  but  rather  add  to  the 
beauty  of  your  flock.  Let  him  be  broad  in 
the  chine  and  loins,  deep  in  the  carcase,  the 
back  straight  and  neither  arched  or  swayed ;  the 
ribs  set  out  so  as  to  afford  room  for  a  large  belly 
well  covered  with  wool,  the  forehead  broad, 
the  eyes  lively  (for  a  heavy  eye  is  the  mark  of 
a  diseased  sheep),  the  testicles  large,  and  if 
covered  with  wool  it  will  be  an  evidence  of  his 
taking  after  his  sire;  let  him  be  strong,  close 
knit,  and  active.  To  judge  of  his  vigour,  take 
him  by  the  hind  legs,  and  observe  if  he  strug- 
gles with  force,  or  makes  but  a  feeble  resist- 
ance. Next,  as  the  most  essential  point,  exa- 
mine his  wool;  if  it  is  as  fine  as  you  can  expect 
in  a  sheep  of  his  grade;  if  it  is  thick,  close, 
and  greasy,  full  of  yoke,  and  the  breast  and 
loins  also  well  covered  with  wool,  you  may  rely 
upon  his  goodness.  Upon  the  thighs  of  a  sheep 
of  this  grade  you  must  expect  to  find  more  or 
less  coarse  wool;  if,  however,  you  have  the 
means  of  choosing,  take  one  that  has  least  of 
it.  I  should  prefer  making  my  stock  gradually 
in  this  way,   out  of  well-formed,  good-sized 

10 


74  Essai/  on  Sheep, 

rams,  to  attaining  more  blood  at  the  expense  of 
size  and  beauty;  for  though  size  maybe  in  itself 
of  minor  importance;  yet  if  you  afterwards  at- 
tempt to  increase  it  by  larger  rams,  you  will 
find  some  difficulty  in  doing  it  when  your  stock 
of  ewes  are  small.  They  will  lamb  with  more 
difficulty,  and  afford  less  milk  in  proportion  to 
the  size  of  their  lambs.  Beauty  of  form  is 
always  to  be  considered ;  for  the  best  formed 
sheep  are  generally  the  most  thrifty.  Such  a 
ram,  with  the  ewes  I  have  described,  will  give 
you  one-fourth  breed  lambs,  who  will  carry  at 
least  one-fourth  more  wool  than  your  old  stock; 
and  this  wool  will  not  be  worth  less  than  fifty- 
six  cents  the  pound,  if  that  of  the  ewes  sold  at 
thirty-seven  cents.  The  quality  and  quantity 
of  the  wool  taken  together  will  nearly  double 
the  value  of  your  fleeces  in  the  first  generation. 
Now  let  us  see  at  what  expense  this  advantage 
is  purchased.  The  ram  we  will  say  cost  twelve 
dollars.  The  first  year  he  will  give  you,  if  well 
kept,  and  not  exhausted  by  too  many  ewes,  five 
pounds  of  wool,  worth  one  dollar  per  pound  as 
wool  now  sells;  charge  his  keeping  at  one  dol- 
lar and  fifty  cents — clear  profit,  three  dollars  and 
fifty  cents,  that  is,  ^^  per  cent,  on  his  original 
cost;  so  that  instead  of  paying  any  thing  for  a 
ram  which  shall  double  the  value  of  your  flock, 


Essay  on  Sheep,  75 

you  have  only  put  twelve  dollars  to  a  more  ad- 
vantageous interest  than  any  other  stock  would 
have  afforded.  Any  farmer  then  who  can  raise 
the  money,  either  by  borrowing  or  parting  with 
some  of  his  other  stock  at  even  something  less 
than  its  value,  to  procure  such  a  ram,  must  stand 
greatly  in  his  own  light  if  he  hesitate  about 
making  the  purchase,  because  the  returns  are 
great  and  certain.  Suppose  his  original  stock 
yielded  him  thirty-six  pounds,  from  which 
must  be  deducted  the  keeping,  which  will  ab- 
sorb the  whole,  his  new  stock  being  one-fourth 
breed,  will,  in  the  increase  and  fineness  of  the 
wool,  add  at  least  thirty  dollars  more  to  it.  Thus, 
for  twelve  dollars  expended,  he  receives  in 
eighteen  months,  when  his  lambs  come  to  be 
shorn,  thirty-three  additional  dollars,  and  two 
fleeces  from  his  ram,  worth  nine  dollars  more, 
and  this  all  clear  profit  beyond  the  keeping  of 
his  sheep,  which  the  old  fleeces  would  but  just 
have  paid.  Is  there  any  farmer  so  blind  to  his 
interest  as  to  breed  any  longer  the  common 
sheep  of  the  country,  when  his  flock  may  so 
easily  and  so  reasonably  be  renovated  ?  But  he 
should  not  stop  here:  the  clear  profit  upon  his 
flock  after  the  first  year,  and  the  price  of  his 
ram,  which  he  should  then  sell,  will  enable 
him  to  purchase  a  three-fourth  blood  ram,  say 


7^  Essay  on  Sheep, 

at  twenty-five  dollars.  Such  a  ram,  with  his 
one-fourth  breed  ewes,  will  at  once  give  him  a 
half  blood  flock,  and  that  without  any  expense, 
because  he  purchases  him  with  the  excess  be- 
yond what  his  original  stock  would  have  given 
him. 

It  is  a  general  practice,  and  I  believe  in  most 
cases  a  good  one,  to  let  the  lambs  come  in 
April;  but  in  changing  a  stock  I  should  prefer 
a  difierent  course,  though  it  may  be  attended 
with  some  more  trouble  and  expense  in  taking 
care  of  the  ewes.  Ihe  lambs  that  come  in 
April  will  take  the  ram,  but  their  young  will 
be  feeble,  and  even  if  they  should  live,  will 
not  form  a  good  basis  to  work  the  change  upon; 
I  would,  therefore,  put  the  old  ewes  intended 
for  stock  in  good  heart,  and  kill  off  the  Iambs 
early,  so  that  they  may  take  the  ram  in  August 
and  September.  The  lambs  that  fall  in  January 
and  February  will  be  large  and  strong  enough 
to  put  to  ram  the  November  following,  and  pro- 
duce good  lambs,  so  that  a  year  maybe  gained 
by  changing  the  flock.  It  is  true  that  it  would 
tend  to  the  improvement  of  the  flock  not  to  let 
the  ewes  breed  till  they  are  two  years  old;  but 
few  farmers  have  the  means  to  keep  them  away 
from  the  ram,  and  they  will  generally  take 
him  in  November  and  December;  in  which 


Essay  on  Sheep.  77 

case  it  is  better  that  the  ewes  should  have  ac- 
quired two  or  three  months  more  growth.  With 
a  very  large  stock  this  might  be  troublesome 
and  hazardous;  but  a  farmer  that  keeps  about 
thirty  ewes  might  do  it  w^ith  little  loss  or  incon- 
venience, by  raising  a  few  cabbages,  turnips, 
and  potatoes  extra,  to  gives  his  ewes  at  yeaning 
time.  I  presume  that  every  farmer  knows  that 
a  ewe  goes  fiv^e  months  with  lamb,  and  of  course 
ho\V  to  regulate  the  yeaning  by  the  keeping 
off  or  admission  of  the  ram.  The  number  of 
ewes  that  a  ram  will  cover  has  never,  that  I 
know  of,  been  precisely  ascertained.  The 
Spanish  shepherds  have  one  to  twenty-four  ewes, 
and  this  seems  to  have  been  the  rule  in  the  days 
of  the  patriarchs,  as  we  may  infer  from  some 
passages  in  which  their  flocks  are  enumerated. 
In  France  they  seem  to  think  forty  the  most 
common.  In  England  a  ram  highly  kept  has 
gone  to  eighty  ewes,  but  then  precautions  were 
used  to  keep  him  from  exhausting  himself,  by 
giving  him  only  one  at  a  time.  Without  the^c 
precautions,  however,  1  have  generally  found 
one  ram  sufficient  for  sixty  or  seventy  ewes;  and 
have  even  known  one  to  serve  a  hundred,  but 
I  think  he  was  injured  by  it.  If  1  had  my 
election,  I  should  not  choose  to  put  more  than 
forty  ewes  to  a  ram.      If  the  rams  arc  let  to  run 


78  Essay  on  Sheep, 

the  whole  season  with  the  flock,  one  will  serve 
more  ewes  than  if  kept  apart  till  late  in  the 
autumn. 
I  should  suppose  that  every  good  farmer 
would  provide  some  sheher  for  his  ewes  in  the 
winter;  if  he  does  not,  he  ought  by  no  means 
to  let  his  lambs  drop  early,  or  he  will  meet  with 
great  losses. — It  will  be  proper  here  to  mention 
the  manner  in  which  I  think  the  flock  should 
be  treated  in  the  winter,  which  the  attentive 
farmer  will  either  adopt  or  improve  upon,  as 
circumstances  may  demand.  It  is  common  to 
let  the  sheep  run  about  the  barn  door,  and  pick 
up  what  the  cattle  drop.  This  may  be  econo- 
mical, but  is  not  a  practice  calculated  to  make 
a  fine  flock.  The  sheep  will  frequently  be 
hurt  by  the  cattle,  and  the  timid  ewes  will  be 
driven  from  their  food.  It  might  not  be  amiss 
to  have  a  few  wethers  kept  for  that  purpose, 
who  would  probably  winter  well  with  little  ex- 
pense by  running  with  the  cattle.  The  stock 
wethers,  if  the  flock  is  large,  should  be  kept 
by  themselves.  If  they  run  in  an  open  field, 
in  which  there  are  hills,  trees,  fences,  or  houses, 
and  are  foddered  from  the  hay-stack,  they  need 
no  other  shelter;  though  I  should  prefer  a  rick 
out  of  which  they  were  fed,  and  on  the  wind- 
ward side  of  which  tlicy  could  lay.     If  they 


Essay  on  Sheep,  79 

run  with  the  ewes,  as  they  are  stronger,  they 
will  feed  up  )n  the  most  delicate  hay,  and  com- 
pel the  ewes  to  eat  the  refuse.  They  will  also 
render  it  difficult  to  give  the  ewes  separately 
that  succulent  food  which  they  require  before 
and  afier  they  have  lambed,  unless  you  are 
provided  with  such  a  quantity  as  will  serve  for 
the  whole  flock,  both  ewes  and  wethers.  The 
following  is  the  plan  I  pursue  for  a  stock  of 
two  hundred  ewes  and  seventy  wethers. 

I  have  chosen  two  warm  dry  situations,  shel- 
tered from  the  north-west  wind  by  hills,  and 
open  to  the  morning  sun  in  winter  at  its  first 
rising.  On  the  north  side  of  this  I  have 
erected  two  barracks  of  about  twenty-four  feet 
square,  with  an  elevation  of  about  six  and  an 
half  feet  from  the  ground  to  the  hay-loft. 
These,  standing  at  a  distance  from  each  other, 
I  have  united  by  a  shed  having  the  same  eleva- 
tion, and  being  about  ten  feet  deep,  with  a  hay- 
loft above.  This  shed  is  open  to  the  south,  and 
boarded  to  the  north;  the  barracks  are  boarded 
up,  the  one  on  the  north  and  west,  and  the 
other  on  the  north  and  east;  the  sheds  cover 
the  east  side  of  one  and  the  west  side  of  the 
other,  uniting  them  together.  Along  the  whole 
of  this  building  racks  are  erected,  with  a  trough 
at  the  bottom  to  catch  the  hay-seed,  of  which 


SQ  Essai/  on  Sheep, 

the  sheep  are  very  fond.  This  trough  also 
serves  for  turnips,  bran,  salt,  ^c.  and  as  the 
extent  is  accommodated  to  the  number  of  sheep, 
they  are  equally  fed,  the  strong  having  no  ad- 
vantage over  the  weak.  On  the  outside  of  this 
building  all  around,  are  boards  hung  upon 
hinges,  which  serve  to  put  the  hay  in  which  is 
thrown  from  the  barracks  to  the  outside  of  the 
sheep-fold.  By  this  means  the  wool  is  kept 
free  from  hay-seeds,  which  injure  it  very  much. 
Along  the  racks,  for  the  distance  of  seven  feet, 
the  building  is  floored,  so  that  the  sheep  are 
kept  clean  and  lie  dry.  The  yard  is  about 
three-fourths  of  an  acre,  and  is  surrounded  by 
a  high  pale  fence,  that  dogs  may  iind  no  ad- 
mittance. In  warm  days,  when  the  sheep  are 
out,  the  loop  boards  along  the  rick  are  turned 
up,  so  as  to  let  the  wind  pass  freely  under  the 
studs,  and  render  the  air  fresh  and  pure.  With 
these  buildino^s  I  am  very  little  solicitous  about 
keeping  away  the  rams  till  late  in  the  autumn. 
My  lambs  generally  come  in  Marcli,  and  some- 
times earlier,  and  by  having  an  attentive  shep- 
herd, I  have  seldom  lost  many,  even  when,  as 
the  year  before  last,  by  the  severity  of  the  wea- 
ther late  in  March,  my  neighbours  lost  many 
of  theirs. 

The  follpwing  is  the  practice  I  would  re- 


Essay  on  Sheep.  81 

commend,   founded  on  my  own  experience, 
if  the  lambs  come  early;  and  I  cannot  help 
thinking  that  those  that  do,  winter  better  the 
'  ensuing  year,  and   make  the  finest  sheep,  at 
least  if  the  ewes  are  suffered  to  breed  the  first 
season.      In  France,  however,  they  are  ever  at- 
tentive to  keep  the  Merino  ewes  from  taking 
the  ram  till  two  and  an  half  years  old;   and  to 
this  circumstance  among  others,  they  attribute 
the  great  improvement  of  the  stock.     Indeed, 
a  full  breed  Merino  will  not  take  the  ram  till 
she  is  eighteen   months  old,   at  least  this  has 
always  been  the  case  with  mine.     After  having 
provided  shelter  to  which  your  ewes  may  retire 
in  bad  weather,  care  must  be  taken  to  furnish 
the  yard  with  a  great  quantity  of  litter,  and  to 
renew  this  after  every  rain.     This  furnishes  a 
quantity  of  manure  that  richly  repays  the  ex- 
pense of  the  Utter;  it  keeps  the  wool  clean,  and 
contributes  greatly  to  the  health  of  the  flock; 
if  your  lambs  are  to  come  early,  it  is  still  more 
necessary,  since  without  it  m.any  will  be  lost  by 
dropping  during  a  wet  or  cold  night  upon  the 
damp  ground,  to  which  they  sometimes  freeze; 
and  the  filth  which  they  by  this  means  contract, 
will  often  keep  the  ewe   from  licking  them 
dry.    I  generally  heap  up  leaves  (which  I  col- 
lect in  the  autumn)  about  a  foot  deep,  and  oc- 

11 


82  Essay  on  Sheep. 

casionally  lay  straw  upon  them.  This  forms 
a  soft  bed  in  the  winter^  and  by  its  early  fer- 
mentation in  the  spring,  furnishes  a  rich  ma- 
nure. In  stormy  weather  your  shepherd  should 
visit  your  fold  very  frequently  about  yeaning 
time,  as  a  storm  appears  to  accelerate  the  birth 
of  the  lambs,  and  some  may  be  lost  for  want  of 
attention. 

In  addition  to  the  general  fold,  I  have  four 
partitions  under  thp  shed,  large  enough  each 
to  contain  a  couple  of  ewes.  When  a  lamb 
drops,  it  is  put,  with  its  mother,  into  one  of  these 
enclosures,  which  is  well  littered.  Here  they 
are  kept  for  two  days,  and  tlie  ewe  is  fed  with 
bran  and  succulent  food.  When  more  lamb& 
come,  and  these  cells  are  wanted,  the  older 
give  place  to  the  younger,  the  lamb  being 
generally  sufficiently  strong  the  third  day  to 
take  care  of  itself,  and  to  find  its  dam  when 
turned  into  the  flock.  In  the  early  part  of  the 
season,  and  before  the  ewes  begin  to  show  any 
signs  of  being  near  their  yeaning  time  (which 
may  be  known  by  the  swelling  of  their  udders), 
they  are  kept  upon  good  hay  (clover  is  prefer- 
red to  any  other)  and  corn-stalks.  When  any 
of  them  appear  to  make  bag,  as  the  shepherds 
call  it,  which  will  be  about  ten  days  or  a  fort- 
night before  they  lamb,  they  are  carried  to  the 


Essay  on  Sheep,  83 

second  of  the  sheep-folds  that  I  have  mentioned, 
and  are  there  fed  with  the  best  of  hay,  corn- 
stalks, turneps,  cabbage,  or  potatoes,  and  once 
or  twice  in  a  day  have  a  handful  of  wet 
bran.  This  gives  them  a  flush  of  milk  when 
the  lambs  drop;  for  want  of  which  many  lambs 
are  lost  by  inattentive  farmers.  In  this  fold  the 
lambs  and  ewes  are  kept  separate  from  the  rest 
of  the  flock,  till  they  amount  to  about  half  the 
number;  when  those  in  the  first  fold  will  be  so 
far  advanced  as  to  require  the  same  treatment, 
and  are  so  diminished  in  number  as  to  make 
any  removal  unnecessary,  the  whole  stock  bcr 
ing  then  well  fed  with  the  most  succulent  food 
that  can  be  procured  for  them.  Whenever  the 
snow  is  off  the  ground  they  should  be  turned 
to  pasture,  with  the  exception  of  those  whose 
Iambs  are  too  young  to  follow  them;  and  even 
when  the  snow  lays,  if  not  too  deep,  they 
should  be  led  out  to  water;  and  if  you  have 
any  cedar,  pine,  hemlock,  or  other  bushes 
that  rise  above  the  snow,  it  will  be  well  to 
beat  a  path  to  them,  and  leave  your  flocks  an 
hour  or  two  among  them.  The  branches  of 
these  trees  too  should  be  brought  into  the  fold 
when  the  ground  is  long  covered  with  snow; 
for  the  fecdincy  on  them  will  contribute  much 
to  the  health  of  your  flock.    Where  these  can- 


84  Essay  on  Sheep. 

not  be  obtained,  smear  tar  on  boards,  and  sprin- 
kle them  lightly  with  salt,  and  lay  them  so  as  the 
sheep  may  get  at  them;  by  eating  it  their  bodies 
will  be  kept  open,  and  themselves  in  heart. 
Once  a  week  a  small  quantity  of  salt  should 
be  given  in  the  mangers.  Salt  is,  I  think,  es- 
sential to  the  health  of  sheep  in  our  climate, 
and  it  is  thought  of  so  much  consequence  in 
Spain,  that  the  King  cannot  raise  much  revenue 
on  that  article,  lest  it  should  induce  the  shep- 
herds to  abridge  the  quantity  usually  given  to 
their  sheep;  which,  they  say,  would  not  only 
injure  them,  but  change  the  quality  of  the 
wool.  About  a  fortnight  after  the  lambs  drop, 
give  them,  besides  your  mark  of  appropriation, 
a  mark  which  is  to  distinguish  the  degree  of 
Merino  blood  they  possess,  At  this  time  you 
can  make  no  mistake,  because  you  can  take 
the  lamb  immediately  from  its  dam :  if  you 
defer  it  till  they  are  larger  and  more  numerous, 
you  will  be  liable  to  errors.  I  view  this  as  very 
important,  particularly  if  you  mean  to  sell  any 
of  your  stock  for  breeding,  since  a  man  that 
possesses  either  honour  or  honesty  would  feel 
the  utmost  pain  at  having  deceived  the  pur- 
chaser in  a  matter  which  is  so  essential  to  the 
amelioration  of  his  flock. 

Should  any  deformed  or  lame  lambs  be  found 


Essay  on  Sheep.  85 

ill  your  flock,  or  should  any  one  be  killed  by;, 
accident,  strip  off  the  skin  from  such  lamb,  and 
cover  with  it  either  a  twin  lamb  or  the  lamb  of 
,a  young  ewe  who  does  not  appear  to  be  a  good 
nurse,  and  shutting  up  the  ewe  that  has  lost 
her  lamb,  she  will  generally  take  it  as  her  own. 
Should  she  refuse,  she  must  be  held  for  a  day 
or  two,  when  she  will  adopt  it.  This  is  a  com- 
mon practice  in  Spain,  where  even  half  the 
lambs  are  killed,  and  two  ewes  given  to  each 
lamb.  The  fatigue  they  undergo  in  travelling 
I  presume  has  rendered  this  necessary.  One 
of  my  neighbours  tried  it  last  spring,  upon  my 
recommendation,  with  success.  If  the  lambs 
come  early,  the  ewes  will  be  relieved,  and  the 
Iambs  strengthened  by  giving  them  fine  hay 
and  bran,  or  any  succulent  food,  such  as  cab- 
bage, &c.  In  order  to  do  this,  and  not  suffer 
their  food  to  be  eaten  by  the  old  sheep,  I  have 
contrived  boxes  with  a  rack  and  manger  within 
them,  and  lids  to  put  in  their  fodder.  The 
front  of  this  box  is  of  lath,  so  wide  as  to  permit 
the  lambs  to  go  in  and  out  at  pleasure,  but  too 
narrow  to  admit  the  grown  sheep.  If  it  is 
preferred  to  have  the  lambs  come  in  April,  in 
that  case  no  particular  care  is  necessary,  other 
than  that  of  providing  a  field  of  rye  or  clover 
for  the  ewes. 


86  Essay  on  Sheep. 

.,  Having  brought  our  flocks  through  the  win- 
ter, we  now  come  to  the  most  critical  season^ 
that  is,  tlie  latter  end  of  March  and  the  month 
of  April.  At  this  time,  the  ground  being  bare, 
the  sheep  will  refuse  to  eat  their  hay,  while  the 
scanty  pickuig  of  grass,  and  its  purgative  qua- 
lity will  disable  them  from  taking  the  nourish- 
ment that  is  necessary  to  keep  them  up.  If 
they  fall  away,  their  wool  will  be  injured,  the 
growth  of  their  lambs  will  be  stopped,  and  even 
many  of  the  old  sheep  will  be  carried  off  by  a 
dysentery.  To  provide  food  for  this  season  is 
very  difficult;  turneps  and  cabbage  will  rot,  and 
bran  they  will  not  eat  after  having  been  fed 
upon  it  all  winter;  potatoes,  however,  and  the 
Swedish  turnep  called  the  roota  baga,  may  be 
usefully  applied  at  this  time,  and  so  I  think 
might  parsneps  and  carrots.  But  as  few  of  us 
are  in  the  habit  of  cultivating  these  plants  to 
the  extent  which  is  necessary  for  the  support 
of  a  large  flock,  we  must  seek  resources 
more  within  our  reach.  The  first  and  simplest 
of  these  is  to  leave  the  second  growth  of  our 
clover  uncut,  and  to  turn  the  ewes  upon  it. 
The  young  clover  will  shoot  very  early  in  the 
spring,  having  been  covered  by  the  old  crop 
during  the  vvinter.  This,  together  with  the  old 
grass,  which  the  sheep  will  be  compelled  to  eat 


Essay  on  Sheep,  87 

in  order  to  get  at  the  young  sprouts,  will  keep 
them  up  till  the  pastures  are  fit  for  them.  A  still 
better  practice  is  to  put  in  a  very  early  crop  of 
rye,  giving  the  ground  a  double  quantity  of 
seed;  and  perhaps  too  if  the  seeds  of  turneps, 
kale,  and  winter  cabbage  were  sown  with  it,  they 
might,  if  the  winter  was  favourable,  add  to  the 
quantity  of  food.  The  ewes  and  lambs  turned 
upon  this  would  thrive  exceedingly,  and  if  your 
pastures  consisted  of  rye  grass,  orchard  grass, 
clover,  parsley,  and  burnet,  which  come  for- 
ward early  in  the  season,  they  might  be  taken 
from  the  rye  before  they  had  done  it  the  least 
injury;  their  feet  and  tails  more  than  compen- 
sating the  mischief  done  by  their  teeth.  The 
summer  feeding  of  sheep  must  of  course  be  re- 
gulated by  the  nature  of  the  owner's  ground; 
if,  however,  it  is  in  his  power  to  make  a  selec- 
tion, let  him  choose  grounds  with  a  sweet 
herbage  of  white  clover,  spear-grass,  or  blue- 
grass;  let  the  pasture  possess  both  water  and 
shade;  and  as  sheep  prefer  short  grass,  and  have 
no  objection  to  feeding  after  horses,  though 
they  dislike  what  other  sheep  have  lain  or 
breathed  upon,  it  will  be  economy  to  put 
horses  on  the  same  pasture;  horned  cattle  are 
not  good,  because  ruminating  animals  dislike 
the  food  that  is  tainted  with  the  breath  or  tread 


88  Essay  on  Sheep. 

of  other  animals  that  ruminate.  It  will  be  pro- 
per too  occasionally  to  change  the  pastures.  I 
find  that  the  daisy  is  eaten  readily  by  sheep  in 
the  pasture  in  the  spring  of  the  year,  and  when 
in  flower  they  will  crop  the  flowers;  but  then 
they  must  have  a  change  of  food,  or  they  will 
tire  of  it,  and  only  eat  it  from  necessity.  If 
not  used  to  it,  it  will  sometimes  purge  them  in 
the  spring;  in  which  case  their  pastures  should 
be  changed.  No  hay  is,  however,  eaten  with 
more  avidity,  both  by  sheep  and  cattle  than  that 
made  from  the  daisy  when  in  the  flower.  If 
it  stands  thick,  and  you  cut  it  down,  after  wilt- 
ing a  few  hours  the  cows  will  leave  their  grass 
to  feed  upon  it. 

It  is  a  generally  received  opinion  in  every 
part  of  Europe  except  England,  that  sheep 
should  not  feed  either  in  the  evening  or  in  the 
morning  when  the  dew  is  on  the  grass.  No- 
thing can  be  more  absurd  than  this  idea,  or 
more  contrary  to  experience.  With  me  it  is 
one  among  a  thousand  other  proofs,  that  fraud 
may  practise  upon  ignorance  till  falsehoods 
are  considered  as  the  axioms  of  truth.  In  every 
country  in  Europe  except  England  and  Holland, 
sheep  are  tended  by  shepherds,  who  lead  them 
to  the  field,  and  continue  out  with  them  the 
whole  day,  whatever  may  be  the  state  of  the 


Essay  on  Sheep.  8-9 

weather.     It  was  very  natural  for  men  who  had 
no  interest  in  the  prosperity  of  their  flocks  to 
endeavour  to  abridge  this  wearisome  and  lonely 
task,  to  share  early  in  the  evening  the  pleasures 
of  society,  and  enjoy  their  fire-sides,  and  to  quit 
their  homes  as  late  as  possible  in  the  morning. 
This  well-invented  tale  answered  their  purpose, 
and,    perhaps,    in  the  begisuiing  derived  force 
from  the  accidental  or  fraudulent  death  of  some 
part  of  their  flocks.     The  shepherds  were  too 
much   interested  in  supporting  this  idea,  and 
their  masters  too  ignorant,  or  too  confident  in 
their  integrity  to  refute  it;  and  from  hence  this 
system  of  keeping  up  the  flock  till  the  dew 
dries  off' the  ground  is  so  general  as  never  once 
to  be  doubted   in  every  country  where  flocks 
are  tended  by  shepherds,  and  ridiculed  in  those 
in  which  they  feed  without  a  guard.     In  Eng- 
land sheep  are  out  night  and  day.     In  America 
the  sheep  are  found  to  feed  with  most  avidity 
when  the  dew  is  upon  the  grass.     If  the  pasture 
is  plentiful,  they  fill  themselves  and  lay  down 
by  nine  o'clock,  and  rise  again  to  feed  an  hour 
after;   but  as  soon  as  the  sun  has  perfecdy  dried 
the  grass,  and  began  to  beat  upon  their  heads 
with  violence,  they  seek  the  shelter  of  some 
friendly  shade,   and  will   even  suffer  hunger 
rather  than  take  their  food  while  they  may  be 

12 


90  Essay  on  Sheep, 

incommoded  by  the  heat.  If  the  pasture  af- 
fords a  wood  or  a  hill,  under  the  shade  of  which 
they  can  feed,  they  will  be  found  on  their  legs 
again  by  three  or  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon ; 
but  if  not,  they  begin  to  feed  later  in  the  day, 
and  will  continue  so  to  do  some  hours  after 
sunset.  It  will  easily  be  conceived  then,  that 
sheep  must  suffer  extremely  by  being  folded 
when  they  should  feed,  and  being  compelled 
to  feed  when  they  should  be  at  rest. 

I  ought  to  have  mentioned,  that  it  is  a  prac- 
tice in  some  places  to  shear  the  tags  and  w^ool 
from  the  udders  of  the  ewes  before  they  lamb- 
ed; and  this  practice  is  strongly  recommended 
by  a  number  of  agricultural  writers,  who  allege 
that  the  lamb  cannot  suck  so  well  unless  this  is 
done:  but  there  are  many  plausible  theories 
which  are  not  confirmed  by  practice,  and 
this  I  take  to  be  among  tlie  number.  The 
teat  is  always  bare,  and  this  is  the  only  part 
that  the  lamb  has  any  thing  to  do  with,  and 
bareing  other  parts  only  tend  to  mislead  his 
search.  But  this  is  not  the  greatest  evil  that 
results  from  it.  The  ewe  must  be  handled, 
and  too  often  very  roughly,  when  she  is  heavy 
with  lamb.  The  effect  of  this  is  very  obvious; 
the  teat  is  sometimes  wounded  by  the  shears; 
but,  above  all,  the  shearing  exposes  the  udder 


Essay  on  Sheep »  91 

to  cold,  which,  if  the  ewe  is  very  forward, 
throws  back  her  milk,  and  sometimes  kills 
her;  and  even  when  less  forward,  it  endangers 
her  health,  and  of  course  that  of  her  embryo 
lamb.  I  have  seen  an  account,  though  I  can- 
not just  now  recollect  where,  of  a  number  of 
ewes  dying  in  England  in  consequence  of  cold 
w^eather  following  soon  after  this  unnecessary 
operation . 

SHEARING. 

This  too  is  a  delicate  task,  and  requires  more 
attention  than  is  frequently  paid  to  it.  Many 
farmers  begin  by  washing  their  sheep.  This 
may  be  a  good  practice  where  the  fleeces  of 
the  sheep  are  thin  and  shaggy,  as  in  the  long- 
wooUed  breed;  yet  I  think  with  thick,  short 
clothing  wool  it  is  of  little  use,  and  particularly 
if  the  flock  consists  of  Spanish  sheep,  whose 
wool  is  so  close  and  thick  as  to  render  it  abso- 
lutely impossible  to  make  it  clean  by  washing  on 
the  sheep's  back;  and  for  this  reason  it  is  never 
practised  in  Spain.  The  long,  straight  wool  soon 
dries,  and  therefore  the  sheep  are  less  injured 
by  it.  But  when  the  water  is  made  to  penetrate 
to  the  skin,  through  a  thick  close  fleece,  it  will 
remain  wet  a  long  time,  and  I  think  cannot 


92  Essay  on  Sheep. 

fail  to  injure  the  sheep,  which  are  very  subject 
to  colds  in  the  head,  chills  that  penetrate  the 
limbs,  and,  falling  on  the  bowels,  brnig  on  a 
lax,  which  sometimes  kills,  and  never  fails  to 
weaken  them  extremely.  Another  evil  which 
is  little  attended  to,  is  the  bringing  together  a 
large  flock  of  sheep  in  a  stable  or  close  barn, 
and  keeping  them  together  till  the  whole 
are  shorn.  If  there  are  any  disordered  sheep 
in  the  flock,  they  communicate  their  com- 
plaint, if  contagious,  to  the  whole  flock, 
who  take  in  each  other's  efiiuvia  at  every 
breath  they  draw.  But  independent  of  this, 
their  being  heated  in  this  manner,  and  inime- 
diately  after  stripped  of  their  clothing,  cannot 
but  be  very  hurtful  to  them.  In  Spain  it  is  a 
common  practice  to  keep  the  sheep  closely 
confined,  in  order  to  make  theni  sweat,  with  a 
view  to  increase  the  weight  of  the  wool,  and 
to  make  the  shears  enter  easier.  The  conse- 
quence is,  that  many  die;  and  in  some  instances 
one  haif  of  the  flock  has  been  carried  oft^  in  the 
space  of  a  night.  I  cannot  but  believe  that  this 
injudicious  management  and  folding  have  ge- 
nerated tliat  great  catalogue  of  maladies  that 
prevail  among  the  sheep  of  Europe,  but  most 
of  which  arc  happily  unknown  in  America. 
1   vv^ould,    therefore,    recommend,    when    the 


Essay  on  Sheep.  93 

shearing  commences,  that  the  sheep  be  penned 
in  the  open  air,  and  brought  by  six  or  eight 
at  a  time  into  the  barn.  If  the  flock  is  large, 
drive  up  only  one  portion  of  them,  and  let  the 
rest  feed  abroad  till  wanted.  The  time  of  shear- 
ing must  be  regulated  by  the  state  of  the  wea- 
ther and  the  growth  of  the  wool.  If  the  sheep 
begin  to  loose  their  wool,  and  this  does  not  arise 
from  bad  keeping,  it  will  be  found,  on  examin- 
ation, that  it  is  protruded  by  a  growth  of  young 
wool ;  there  would  then  be  some  loss  by  defer- 
ring the  shearing,  as  the  new  wool  will  injure 
the  old,  and  the  next  years  crop  be  diminished 
in  quantity  by  the  delay.  But  even  this  should 
not  induce  the  farmer  to  shear  his  sheep  till  the 
weather  is  \yarm  and  settled.  In  this  circum- 
stance the  Merino  breed  have  an  advantage 
over  all  others.  They  never  shed  their  wool; 
and  from  some  experiments  that  have  been 
made  in  France*,  it  appears  that  two  and  even 
three  years  growth  may  be  had  at  one  cutting 
without  diminishing  the  quantity.  Thus,  if 
a  sheep  would  have  given  three  pounds  the 
first  year,  if  left  unshorn,  he  will  give  six  the 
next,  and  nine  the  following;  so  that  if  it  was 
desirable  to  have  Merino  wool  of  ten  or  twelve 
inches  long,  it  could  be  obtained :  but  it  is  a 
practice  that  I  would  not  recommend  in  our 


94?  Essay  o?i  Sheep, 

warm  climate,  where  sheep  must  suffer  greatly 
under  so  thick  a  fleece,  as  well  from  the  heat 
as  from  the  lice  that  it  would  generate.  It  is, 
however,  a  great  advantage  not  to  be  compelled, 
from  the  falling  of  the  wool,  to  shear  at  an 
inconvenient  or  improper  time;  and  this  ad- 
vantage is,  I  believe,  confined  solely  to  the 
Merino  breed.  How  far  it  may  extend  to  the 
mixed  breed  I  do  not  know. 

In  some  countries  the  sheep  are  shorn  twice 
a  year;  but  wherever  this  practice  prevails,  I 
believe  it  is  owing  either  to  the  wool's  being 
too  coarse  for  use  when  it  attains  its  full  growth, 
or  because,  as  the  winter  approaches,  and  no 
proper  provision  is  made  to  keep  them,  the 
sheep  falling  in  flesh,  would  not  keep  their 
wool  till  shearing  time. 

It  is  a  general  practice  in  shearing  to  tie  the 
legs  of  the  sheep  together.  This  is  very  im- 
proper: it  forces  the  sheep  into  a  position  in 
which  the  intestines  being  pressed,  they  dis- 
charge their  urine  and  dung  at  the  time  they 
are  sheared,  which  fouls  the  wool,  and  is  of- 
fensive to  the  operator;  besides  which,  the  skin 
being  by  this  means  drawn  together,  there  is 
much  more  danger  of  cutting  the  sheep  than 
if  they  were  placed  in  their  natural  position. 
It  has,   therefore,   been    recommended    to   tic 


Essay  on  Sheep,  95 

ihetn  to  a  table,  after  laying  them  on  one  side; 
but  this  I  think  would  subject  them  to  some 
risk  if  they  should  struggle,  and  at  all  events 
will  require  twice  tying,  as  the  sheep  must  be 
'turned.  I  contemplate  trying  the  next  year 
the  tying  the  fore  and  hind  legs  to  a  bar  wtih 
two  cross  pieces;  the  bar  to  be  about  eighteen 
inches  long,  and  the  cross  pieces  six.  This 
would  leave  the  sheep  in  their  natural  posture, 
with  their  legs  a  little  stretched  out;  a  rod  of 
iron,  with  a  curvature  at  each  end,  would  per- 
haps be  still  better,  because,  being  smaller,  it 
would  be  less  in  the  way  of  the  shears.  The 
shearing  of  a  common  long-woolled  sheep  is  a 
matter  of  little  difficulty,  the  fleece  being  light, 
and  the  wool  not  so  valuable  as  to  occasion  any 
great  attention  to  shearing  close.  To  those  that. 
have  short-wooUed,  and  particularly  Merino 
sheep,  I  would  recommend  not  to  trust  the 
shears  to  careless  hands,  or  by  any  means  to 
hurry  their  workmen ;  on  the  contrary,  to  re- 
mind them  constantly  that  the  wool  is  suflicl- 
ently  valuable  to  compensate  for  the  time  spent 
in  taking  it  off,  and  the  sheep  too  valuable  to 
be  maimed.  To  shear  one  Merino  sheep  pro- 
perly will  take  more  time  than  to  shear  three 
long-woolled  sheep.  Let  the  master  then  show 
no  impatience  if  he  would  have  his  work  well 


do  Essay  oji  Sheep, 

done.  Great  care  should  be  taken  not  to  wound 
the  sheep,  particularly  when  the  shears  is  ap- 
plied near  the  udder,  where  wounds  are  dan- 
gerous; but  as  some  accidents  will  unavoidably 
happen,  the  best  remedy  to  apply  to  the  wound, 
hi  order  to  heal  and  protect  it  from  the  flies, 
is  a  little  tar  from  the  tar-bucket,  which  con- 
tains some  mixture  of  grease,  and  a  little  fine 
dust  of  charcoal  over  it. 

If  the  wool  is  to  be  used  in  the  family,  it  is 
best  to  sort  it  as  the  fleeces  are  taken  oif,  putting 
the  wool  of  the  hoggets  (or  young  sheep)  by 
itself,  because  it  injures  cloth  to  mix  this  with 
that  of  full-grown  sheep,  as  it  is  not  of  the  same 
texture  or  strength,  and  will  make  the  cloth 
shrink  unequally.  The  other  fleeces  may  be 
sorted  also,  making  separate  parcels  of  the 
thighs — the  belly — the  back  and  sides.  An- 
other assortment  may  be  made  afterwards  if 
thought  necessary.  If  the  wool  is  designed  for 
sale,  the  fleeces  should  be  carefully  rolled  up, 
first  taking  off  the  tags,  and  tied  together  with  a 
lock  of  the  wool.  If  the  flock  consists  of  Meri- 
noes,  pure  or  mixed,  and  common  sheep,  as 
many  parcels  should  be  made  as  there  are  grades 
in  the  flock,  so  that  each  part,  when  carried  to 
market,  maybe  marked  according  to  the  value. 
The  wool  should  not  be  kept  long  upon  hand 


Essay  on  Sheep,  ^1 

without  washing,  as  it  is  liable  in  that  case  to 
ferment  and  spoil  in  hot  weather.  When  the 
sheep  are  shorn,  if  the  weather  should  prove 
wet  and  cold,  and  you  have  sheds  or  barns  of 
sufficient  size  to  contain  them  without  crowd- 
ing, it  will  be  well  to  house  them  at  night,  and 
to  give  them  salt,  which  is  a  stimulant,  and 
will  enable  them  better  to  bear  the  sudden 
chills  occasioned  by  the  loss  of  their  fleeces. 
To  this  might  be  advantageously  added  a  little 
corn  or  oats. 

Before   the  sheep   are   dismissed    from   the 
shepherd's  hands,  they  should  be  carefully  ex- 
amined as  to  their  age,  their  constitution,   and 
the  quality  of  their  wool;  the  old  sheep,  those 
that  are  weak,  ill  formed,  or  ewes  that  appear 
to  have  been  bad  nurses,  or  to  have  lost  their 
lambs  from  the  want  of  milk,  or  whose  wool  is 
bad,   either  by  being  mixed   with  jar   (short 
hairs),  or  which  are  rough  on  the  thighs,  should 
be  marked,  in  order  to  turn  them  off,  and  put 
in  good  pastures  by  themselves,  to  fat  them  the 
sooner.     The  age  of  a  sheep  is  distinguished 
by  their  front  teeth;   they  have  eight  in  their 
under,   but  none  in  their  upper  jaw.     These 
are    complete    at   their   birth,    but    they   are 
small  and  pointed.     The  second  year  the  two 
middle  teeth  are  changed  for  two  of  consider- 

13 


98  Essai/  on  Sheep, 

ably  more  breadth,  by  which  they  are  distin- 
guished from  the  six  lamb's  teeth :  the  third 
year  the  two  adjoining  teeth  are  changed :  the 
fourth  year  leaves  them  with  only  two  lamb's 
teeth :  the  fifth  year  all  their  teeth  are  changed, 
and  they  are  then  said  to  be  full  mouthed.  At 
seven  and  eight  years  they  begin  to  loose  their 
front  feeth.  Whenever  this  happens,  they  are 
called  broken  mouthed,  and  should  be  turned 
off  to  fat,  as  they  are  then  upon  the  decline. 
Many  sheep  will,  however,  preserve  their  teeth 
much  longer;  but  it  will  be  best,  except  in  the 
case  of  a  valuable  ewe  or  ram,  to  turn  them  off 
the  year  after  they  are  full  mouthed;  for  they 
decline  in  wool  as  they  grow  older,  and  will 
fatten  better  before  the  teeth  get  loose  or  decay: 
besides  that,  in  a  flock  of  common  sheep  the 
principal  profit  consists  in  fatting  off  early,  as 
the  sheep  sold  is  of  three  times  the  value  of  the 
Iamb  by  which  it  may  be  replaced. 

The  shearers  should  also  examine  very  atten- 
tively whether  the  sheep  they  shear  have  the 
scab,  which  may  be  known  by  the  wool  com- 
ing oft*  easily,  and  by  the  skin  being  rough  and 
discoloured.  In  that  case  the  remedies  which 
I  shall  hereafter  mention  should  be  immediately 
applied;  and  if  the  disorder  has  gone  so  far  as 
to  have  formed  a  sore  or  scab,  it  will  be  best 


Essay  on  Sheep,  9# 

lo  separate  the  infected  sheep  from  the  flock 
till  the  cure  is  efiected.     Cold  and  heat  is  inju- 
rious lo  sheep  that  have  been  just  shorn;  they 
^  should,  therefore,  be  put  into  pastures  in  which 
they  can  lind  shade,  for  the  sun  not  only  hurts 
them  when  naked,  but  dries  the  skin,  injures 
the  growing  wool,  and  is  said  to  produce  the 
scab.     At  this  time  too  attention  should  be  paid 
to  the  horns  of  the  sheep,  to  see  that  they  do 
not  press  upon  the  skull,  or  endanger  the  eyes; 
in  either  of  which  cases,  if  not  taken  off,  they 
will  cause  the  death  of  the  animal.     There  are 
two  ways  to  remove  the  horns :    the  Spanish 
shepherds  make   a  hole    in   the  earth    large 
enough  to  contain  half  the  body  of  the  sheep, 
and  another  of  less  depth  for  his  head,  under 
which  a  block    is  placed ;  the  animal  is  laid 
upon  his  back  in  the  pit,  a  man  sitting  astride 
to  keep  him  down,  while  another  confines  his 
head  to  the  block,  and  a  third  cuts  off  his  horns 
with  a  sharp  chissel  and  mallet;   I  have,  how- 
ever, preferred  using  a  fine  stiff-backed  saw, 
with  which  the  operation  can  be  very  neatly 
performed,  though  a  surgeon's  saw  would  be 
better.     After  the  horns  are  taken  off,  I  have 
applied  tar  to  the  extremities  of  the  stumps, 
and  tied  over  them  two  or  three  folds  of  strong 
linen  to  keep  off  the  flies.     Last  year  I  was 


100  Essay  on  Sheep. 

compelled  to  have  this  operation  performed  in 
the  heat  of  summer,  and  to  take  oft'  the  horn, 
which  was  very  large,  within  two  inches  of  the 
skull;  and  though  it  bled  freely,  the  ram  did 
very  well,  and  seemed  not  to  feel  any  inconve- 
nience from  the  operation  after  the  bandage 
was  applied.      It  would  be  desirable  to  obtain 
sheep  without  horns,  not  only  to  avoid  the  trou- 
ble of  cutting  them,  but  because  they  are  dan- 
gerous to  the  ewes  in  the  fold,  inconvenient  to 
the  sheep  if  they  feed  from  racks,  and  frequent- 
ly fatal  to  each  other;  for  in  the  rutting  season 
they  will   fight  with  such  fury  as  to  occasion 
the  deatli  of  one  of  the  combatants.     Few  of 
the  Spanish  Merinoes  are  found  hornless;  when 
such  are  found,  if  they  are  equally  perfect  in 
other  respects,   they  should   be  preferred.     I 
have  one  of  this  description,  of  fine  size  and 
figure;  but  the  materials  that  should  have  form- 
ed his  horns  appear  to  have  been  transferred  to 
his  hoofs,  which  grow  out  to  the  length  of  six 
or  eight  inches,  and  must  be  cut  at  least  twice 
in  a  season,  or  they  render  him  lame;   the  cut- 
ting, however,  is  attended  with  little  difficulty, 
and  no  danger. 

Most  people  observe  the  season  of  shearing 
for  docking,  castrating,  and  marking  their 
lambs.     1  believe  the  docking  contributes  to 


Essay  on  Sheep,  101 

cleanliness,  and  therefore  have  adopted  it.  In 
England,  however,  it  is  seldom  practised,  but 
very  commonly  in  Spain.  The  castration  is 
performed  in  various  ways;  some  prefer  cut- 
ting out  the  testicles,  while  others  tie  the  scro- 
tum so  as  to  stop  the  circulation,  and  after  four 
or  five  days,  when  the  parts  are  dead,  they  cut 
it  oiF  just  below  the  string,  and  tar  the  wound. 
This  is  said  to  be  the  best  mode,  where  the  cas-^ 
tration  is  to  be  performed  on  an  aged  sheep. 
But  great  attention  should  be  given  to  the  wea- 
ther: I  lost  six  out  of  seven  last  year  by  having 
It  performed  in  warm  weather  on  sheep  of  only 
three  months  old.  When  the  lambs  are  young, 
cutting  is  the  easiest  and  best  mode;  and  if  the 
season  is  advanced  when  they  drop,  they  may 
be  safely  cut  at  ten  days  old;  indeed,  the  ear- 
lier it  is  done  the  finer  will  be  the  wool  and  the 
flesh;  but  if  rain  or  cold  weather  succeeds  be- 
fore they  are  cured,  they  should  be  housed,  as 
I  have  known  them  to  die  for  the  want  of  this 
precaution.  In  Spain  it  is  usual,  instead  of  ei- 
ther of  these  operations,  to  twist  the  testicles 
within  the  scrotum,  so  as  to  knot  the  cord;  in 
which  case  they  decay  gradually,  without  in- 
juring the  sheep. 

When  it  is  desirous  to  confine  the  breeders  in 
a  flock  to  a  less  number  than  that  of  the  ewes 


102  Essay  o?i  Sheep. 

produced,  the  ewe  lambs  may  be  splayed;  in 
Avliich  case  they  give  more  wool,  fatten  better, 
and  are  said  to  afford  finer  meat.  This  operation 
cannot  be  performed  conveniently  before  the 
lambs  are  six  weeks  old,  because  the  ovaria  is 
at  an  earlier  period  too  small  to  be  easily  distin- 
guished. They  are  said  to  suffer  so  little  by 
this  operation,  as  not  to  feel  any  inconvenience 
from  it  after  the  first  day. 

The  time  for  weaning  the  lambs  depends 
upon  various  circumstances.  If  the  parent  ewe 
js  broken  mouthed,  or  so  faulty  in  wool  or  in 
shape  as  to  render  it  desirable  to  get  rid  of  her, 
the  lamb  must  be  weaned  early,  so  as  to  admit 
of  her  being  fatted  in  season;  if  she  is  admitted 
to  the  ram  as  soon  as  she  is  disposed  to  take 
him,  the  earlier  she  ivill  fat.  If  the  object  is 
to  render  the  lambs  as  large  as  possible,  and 
they  are  of  such  a  stock  as  to  make  the  ewes 
of  comparatively  less  value,  it  will  be  best 
to  let  the  lambs  run  with  them  till  they  wean 
themselves,  because  they  undoubtedly  grow 
the  more  rapidly  for  it.  This  mode  I  would 
therefore  recommend  when  a  Merino  fiock 
is  to  be  engrafted  upon  a  common  one.  But 
if  the  ewes  arc  valuable,  it  certainly  will  be 
best  to  wean  the  lambs  so  early  as  to  give  the 
ewes  some  respite  before  they  take  the  ram 


Essay  on  Sheep.  103 

again;  and  indeed,  if  eiirly  lambs  are  preferred, 
early  weaning  is  absolutely  necessary,  as  the 
ewe  will  seldom  take  the  ram  while  exhausted 
^by  nursing.  In  Spain  they  leave  the  lambs 
with  the  ewes  till  they  wean  themselves.  In 
France,  and  generally  in  England,  they  are 
weaned  at  three  or  four  months  old.  In  order 
to  prevent  the  lambs  from  falling  off  when  they 
are  weaned,  they  should  be  put  into  a  piece  of 
young  tender  grass,  wiih  an  old  quiet  ewe  or 
wether  to  direct  their  movements;  they  should 
also  be  out  of  sight  and  hearing  of  their  mo- 
thers, that  they  may  the  sooner  forget  each 
other.  If  the  keeping  them  apart  should  be 
inconvenient,  they  may  be  brought  together  at 
the  end  of  a  fortnight.  Some  attention  should 
be  paid  to  the  ewes  for  the  first  week,  in  order 
to  prevent  their  suffering  by  a  too  great  flow  of 
milk,  which  should  be  taken  from  them  every 
day  or  two;  and  perhaps  it  would  be  best,  till 
their  milk  was  dried  up,  to  keep  them  in  scant}' 
pastures. 

It  was  the  opinion  of  the  Romans  that  the 
first  lamb  from  a  ewe  was  generally  weak  and 
pot-bellied ;  they  separated  such  from  their 
flocks,  and  fatted  them  off.  I  believe  the  opi- 
nion well  founded,  but  I  think  it  arises  from 
the  yoimg  ewes  seldom  having  so  much  milk, 


104  Essay  on  Sheep. 

or  being  so  careful  of  their  lambs  as  the  older 
ones.  If  the  lambs  come  early,  it  will  be  ne- 
cessary to  wean  the  forward  males  before  the 
first  of  August,  particularly  if  the  ewes  are  in 
high  order,  or  if  some  among  them  have  lost 
their  lambs  early,  as  they  may  otherwise  im- 
pregnate the  ewes  sooner  than  is  proper.  It  is 
a  very  common  practice  in  Europe  to  shear  the 
lambs,  though  it  is  seldom  done  here;  and  yet 
I  think  it  more  adapted  to  our  climate  than  to 
that  of  northern  Europe.  The  heat  of  our  sum- 
mers renders  the  wool  very  burdensome  to  the 
lambs;  and  as  our  autumns  are  generally  fine 
and  dry,  there  is  sufficient  time  for  the  wool  to 
grow  so  much  as  to  protect  them  during  the 
winter.  Lamb^s  wool  also  sells  much  higher 
here  for  hatters'  use  than  in  Europe,  so  as  to 
render  the  shearing  more  a  point  of  profit.  Af- 
ter the  lamb  is  shorn,  he  should  be  washed  and 
perfectly  freed  from  the  tick.  Thougli  I  do 
not  wash  my  sheep  before  shearing,  I  always 
have  them  washed,  after  they  arc  shorn,  once 
or  twice  during  the  hottest  weather,  and  think 
that  the  practice  is  useful  in  freeing  them  from 
tick  and  preventing  the  scab.  My  lambs  will 
drop  very  early  this  year;  I  contemplate  shear- 
ing all  those  not  intended  for  sale,  and  washing 
them  not  only  in  running  water,  but  with  soap. 


Essay  on  Sheep.  105 

I  propose  to  make  soap,  for  the  purpose,  of  tur- 
pentine instead  of  grease,  and  to  mix  a  weak 
deeoetion  of  tobacco  with  the  water  in  which 
they  are  washed.  This  I  think  will  not  only 
free  them  in  the  first  instance  from  tick  and 
lice,  but  keep  the  tick  fly  from  assaulting  them 
as  long  as  the  seem  of  the  tobacco  or  the  tur- 
pentine remains.  Tar,  as  a  cheaper  material, 
may  be  used  instead  of  turpentine;  neither  of 
them  will  injure  the  w^ool  when  mixed  with  a 
just  proportion  of  alkaH,  and  diluted  when  used. 
The  next  care  of  the  attentive  shepherd  is  to 
examine  his  flock  frequently,  in  order  to  know 
whether  they  are  in  health,  and  to  remove  such 
as  he  may  find  distempered ;  tor  almost  all  the 
diseases  of  sheep  are  contagious,  and  a  whole 
flock  may  be  lost  by  the  negligence  of  a  few 
days.  Hapi^ily,  that  long  catalogue  of  disorders 
which  prevail  in  other  parts  of  the  world,  is  re- 
duced in  our  country  to  two — the  scab,  and  the 
staggers,  or  dizziness*  The  scab  is  a  cutaneous 
disorder;  it  is  discoverable  from  the  sheep's  fre- 
quently rubbing  himself,  biting  and  pulling  his 
wool;  and,  when  it  has  made  some  progress, 
from  the  wool's  rising  or  falling  otf,  at  first 
generally  on  the  back.  Fine-woolled  sheep, 
though  not  more  subject  to  this  complaint  than 
others,  are,  it  is  said,  more  difficult  to  cure,  both 

14 


10^  Essay  on  Sheep, 

because  of  the  closeness  of  their  coats  and  the 
delicate  texture  of  their  skins;  I  have,  however, 
found  very  little  trouble  with  it,  though  it  has 
appeared  several  times  among  individuals  of  my 
flock.  The  care  that  I  take  to  have  the  flock 
drawn  up  and  examined  at  least  once  a  month, 
has  prevented  its  spreading  when  it  appeared, 
as  the  infected  sheep  were  immediately  sepa- 
rated, and  means  used  for  the  cure,  which 
has  never  in  one  instance  failed  to  be  effectual 
after  having  been  three  or  four  times  applied. 
For  a  particular  account  of  my  remedy,  and 
several  others  that  are  applied  to  this  disorder, 
I  shall  refer  to  the  Appendix,  in  which  I  shall 
enumerate  the  diseases  of  sheep,  with  the  most 
approved  remedies. 

The  staggers,  or  dizziness,  which  is  also 
known  by  various  other  names,  has  occurred 
in  three  instances  in  my  flock,  and  always  at- 
tacked lambs  under  one  year  old ;  and,  indeed, 
I  believe  it  is  confined  solely  to  lambs.  They 
were  taken  very  suddenly,  and  without  any 
previous  symptoms,  by  a  sj^ecies  of  convulsion, 
in  which  the  neck  was  twisted  to  one  side;  they 
lost  the  use  of  their  legs;  when  raised  they 
would  attempt  to  follow  the  flock,  but  turned 
round  and  fell;  in  a  few  days  they  were  inca- 
pable even  of  standing,  of  moving  their  heads  or 


Essay  on  Sheep.  107 

any  of  their  limbs.  As  they  were  very  valuable 
sheep,  I  paid  particular  attention  to  them;  grass 
and  grain  were  given  them,  which  they  would 
readily  eat,  though  they  could  not  move  any 
part  but  their  jaws.  In  this  state  they  lay  a 
week  without  motion,  except  of  their  eyes  and 
mouth  when  food  was  given  them;  they  then 
so  far  recovered  as  to  be  able  to  stand  when  they 
were  supported,  in  which  posture  their  food 
was  given  them,  but  would  fall  down  when  the 
support  was  withdrawn.  In  about  ten  days  they 
*could  stand  without  support,  but  fell  when  they 
attempted  to  walk ;  their  motion  being  rather  a 
convulsive  run  than  a  walk.  At  intervals  they 
would  get  better,  and  be  able  to  walk  for  some 
time,  but  they  were  always  found  laying  in 
some  part  of  the  field  as  if  they  were  dead.  Ob- 
serving that  the  vivacity  of  their  eyes  was  not 
altered,  I  directed  that  the  attention  in  feeding 
and  supporting  them  should  not  be  remitted, 
and  in  the  course  of  about  six  weeks  they  so  far 
recovered  as  to  join  the  flock;  one  of  them, 
however,  a  young  ram,  received  a  blow  in 
his  w^eak  state  from  a  stronger  one,  that  kil- 
led him;  tlie  other  two  recovered,  but  very 
slowly;  and  even  at  the  end  of  eight  months 
they  bore  evident  marks  of  their  complaint.  This 
disorder  is  found,  upon  dissection,  to  be  owing 


108  Essay  on  Sheep. 

to  a  bag  containing  water  within  the  skull, 
which  presses  upon  the  brain.      It  is  generally 
considered  as  incurable,  though  it  is  said   by 
others  that  it  may  sometinies  be  remedied  by 
trepanning:  a  soft  place  on  the  head  indicates 
the  situation  of  the  bag,  which,   if  taken  out 
whole,  will  remove  the  disorder;  others  pass  a 
sharp  wire  up  the  nostril   into  the  brain,  and 
perforate  the  bag:  the  suppuration  that  this  oc- 
casions effects  the  cure ;  five  out  of  six,  however, 
die  under  this  operation,  and  it  may,  therefore, 
be  justly  considered  as  incurable  by  the  doctor, 
but  not,  as  I  have  shown,  by  the  nurse.   Nature 
will  effect  the  cure,  if  care  is  taken  to  feed  and 
tend  the  patient  while  she  is  operating  her  very 
reluctant  and   tardy  cure;    but   a  sheep  must 
be  extremely  valuable  to  pay  for  three  months 
constant  attention.      I  should  add,  that  I  bled 
the  lambs  I  mentioned,  and  gave  them  a  doze 
of  train  oil;  but  I  have  no  reason  to  think  that 
either  of  these  had  any  agency  in  the  cure. 

The  purging  which  sheep  are  subject  to  in 
the  spring  of  the  year,  and  which  arises  from 
their  change  of  food,  I  do  not  consider  as  a 
diseaseof  any  consequence,  and  except  this  and 
the  staggers  I  know  of  none  that  prevails  in  our 
flocks  when  properly  nourished.  When  they 
are  ill  kept,  they  sometimes  take  colds  and  dis- 


Essen/  on  Sheep.  lOi) 

charge  a  mucus  from  the  nose.  Good  feeding 
and  pine  boiighs,  or  tar  and  salt,  administered 
in  the  manner  1  have  mentioned,  will  cure  this 
complaint. 

It  is  frequently  asked,  what  quantity  of  Ibod, 
either  dry  or  green,  is  necessary  for  a  given 
number  of  sheep?  and  the  inquiry  is  not  a  mere 
matter  of  curiosity,  but  its  answer  very  import- 
ant to  the  farmer,  as  it  enables  him  to  adapt  his 
stock  to  his  means  of  support.     The  British 
writers  are  not  so  accurate  on  this  subject  as  one 
could  wish,  and  as  they  generally  are  in  what- 
ever relates  to  rural  economy.    This  is  owing  to 
the  manner  of  feeding  their  sheep  for  the  most 
part  on  turneps  eaten  on  the  ground,  on  old  grass 
fields,  and  only  occasionally  on  hay.     Happily, 
however,  this  interesting  question  is  answered 
by  Daubenton,  a  celebrated  French  agricultu- 
ralist, in  such  a  manner  as  to  leave  me  nothing 
to  do  but  to  transcribe  his  work.    ''  I  confined, 
*'  in  a  small  space,  two  sheep,  about  twenty 
**  inches  high  (the  height  of  most  woolled  ani- 
^'  mals  in  France).     By  way  of  experiment,  I 
'*  caused  the  sheep  to  be  fed,  during  eight  days, 
"  solely  upon  grass  newly  cut,  and  weighed  be- 
**  fore  placed  in  their  rack.     Care  was  taken  to 
"  pick  up,  and  place  in  it  back  again,  all  that  the 
*'  sheep  let  fall,  and  to  weigh  that  which  they 


110  Essay  on  Sheep. 

"  would  not  eat  in  consequence  of  its  being  too 
*'  tough,  or  because  it  possessed  some  bad  qua- 
^'  lity.  From  this  trial,  frequently  repeated,  it 
*'  appeared  that  a  sheep  of  the  middle  stature 
"  eats  about  eight  pounds  of  grass  in  a  day. 
^^  The  same  experiments,  conducted  with  the 
*'  same  preciseness,  in  regard  to  the  fodders  of 
**  hay  or  straw,  have  proved,  that  a  sheep  of 
''  middling  height  likewise  eats  daily  two 
**  pounds  of  hay,  or  two  pounds  and  a  half 
"  of  straw. 

"  In  order  to  ascertain  how  many  pounds  of 
^'  grass  go  to  one  pound  of  hay,  I  caused  the 
"  grass  to  be  weighed  as  soon  as  cut;  it  was  then 
'^  spread  on  cloths  exposed  to  the  sun,  so  that 
"  none  might  be  lost,  though  at  the  same  time 
*'  well  dried.  Being  thus  converted  into  hay, 
■'  I  found  its  weight  reduced  to  one-fourth; 
**  eight  pounds  of  grass  had  only  given  two 
"  pounds  of  hay, 

''  Agriculturalists  know  how  many  cart  loads, 
'^  or  trusses,  a  field  can  produce;  consequently 
**  they  may  judge  how  many  sheep  it  can 
"'  maintain  in  hay  or  in  grass.  They  have  a 
^'  rule  then  for  proportioning  the  number  of 
"  their  sheep  to  the  quantity  of  pasture  and 
"  fodder  tliey  can  supply  them  with. 

*^  Having  determined  the  quantity  of  solid 


Essay  on  Sheep,  111 

'*  food  essential  to  the  good  regimen  of  the 
'*  woolled  kind,  I  made  other  experiments  upon 
*'  these  animals,  in  order  to  know  at  what  time 
'*  they  should  drink. 

"  It  is  well  known  that  they  seldom  drink 
"  when  they  feed  upon  fresh  grass,  but  stand  in 
"  want  of  water  when  fed  on  dry  meat.  Dif- 
"  ferent  opinions  are  pursued  as  to  the  proper 
**  time  for  watering  them.  In  some  countries 
*'  they  are  taken  to  water  once  or  twice  every 
*^  day;  in  others  not  for  one,  two,  three,  four;, 
^'  or  even  five  days.  By  the  following  experi- 
**  ments,  I  have  endeavoured  to  ascertain  which 
"  of  all  these  regimens,  so  different  from  each 
"  other,  is  entitled  to  preference. 

''  I  shut  up  in  a  stable,  in  the  depth  of  win- 
"  ter,  a  small  flock,  of  which  all  the  sheep  were 
"  marked  with  a  number.  They  were  kept, 
"  night  and  day,  without  being  suflfered  to  quit 
"  it,  and  fed  with  a  mixture  of  straw  and  of  hay, 
"  without  any  other  aliment.  Each  day  a  shep- 
"  herd  carried  in  his  arms,  successively,  some 
"  sheep  out  of  the  stable,  to  let  them  drink  in 
"  my  presence,  out  of  a  vessel  guaged  at  dif- 
*'  ferent  heights,  and  then  took  them  back  into 
^'  the  stable,  when  they  had  either  drank  or 
"^  refused  to  drink. 

'^  By  this  method  I  knew  how  much  water 


11^  Essaif  on  Sheep. 

"  the  sheep  had  taken,  when  presented  whh  it, 
"  once,  twice  or  thrice  each  day,  or  only  once 
**  in  two,  three,  four,  or  five  days. 

*'  Most  oi  the  sheep  in  this  little  flock  passed 
"^  a  month  in  the  stable  without  drinking:  their 
*'  appetite  was  always  the  s^me,  and  they  expe- 
"  rienced  no  other  inconvenience  than  that  of 
''  thirst,  of  which  they  gave  evident  proofs  by 
^'  running  to  lick  the  moist  lips  of  those  carried 
"  back  to  the  stable  on  return  from  drinking. 

"  The  result  of  these  experiments,  which  I 
^^  cannot  here  detail,  led  me  to  conclude,  that 
^'  sheep,  with  no  other  nourishment  than  that 
^^  of  dry  hay,  and  within  reach  of  water,  could 
"  pass  days  without  drinking;  but  they  would 
"  take  a  greater  quantity  of  water  the  following 
'*  day  than  if  they  had  drank  the  eveniiig  be- 
**  fore:  this  quantity  increases  to  a  certain  de- 
*^  gree  if  they  have  been  deprived  of  water  for 
'^  many  days  together.  They  are  then  tor- 
"  mented  with  thirst,  for  they  are  eager  to  get 
'*  a  drop  of  water;  if  they  could  find  it  in 
''  abundance,  they  would  drink  too  plentifully 
'^  for  their  temperament,  subject  as  they  are  to 
"  cflusions  of  serosity,  which  produce  mortal 
^  hydatides  in  the  brain,  and  the  rot,  a  disease 
"  no  less  fatal. 

"  The  best  plan  is  to  drive  the  flock  every 


Essaij  on  Sheep.  1 13 

*'  day  to  the  pond,  and  to  make  it  pass  slowly, 
"without  stopping  there:  by  this  method  it 
''  will  be  found  that  the  sheep  who  really  want 
"  to  drink  will  be  the  only  ones  who  will  drink. 

"  In  countries  where  water  is  scarce,  it  fre- 
"  quently  happens  that  the  pond,  if  far  distant, 
"  and  the  flock  cannot  be  driven  to  it  without 
"  being  fatigued ;  in  this  case  they  may  pass 
"  many  days  without  drinking;  but  when  fed 
"  only  upon  dry  meat,  it  must  not  be  delayed 
"  too  long. 

"  This  aliment  differs  much  from  fresh  grass, 
*^  in  consequence  of  the  loss  of  moisture  by  dry- 
*'  ing;  yet  sheep  take  daily  the  same  quantity 
"  of  solid  food,  whether  in  grass  or  in  hay.  In 
"  the  experiments  before  mentioned,  I  found 
"  their  appetite  perfectly  equal,  for  they  eat 
"  eight  pounds  of  grass,  or  two  corresponding 
"  pounds  of  hay,  which  I  found  to  be  the  pro- 
"  duct  of  eight  pounds  of  grass.  The  evapo- 
"  ration  which  is  carried  on  during  the  making 
"  of  the  hay,  takes  off  three-fourths  of  the  sub- 
"  stance  of  grass  in  fluid  particles;  thus  the 
"  sheep  which  eats  two  pounds  of  hay  is  de- 
*'  prived  of  six  pounds  of  liquid  aliment,  which 
*'  it  would  have  had  by  eating  eight  pounds  of 
'■'  grass.  It  supplies  a  part  of  this  deficiency 
*'  bv  drinking  about   three   pounds  of  water 

15 


1 1 4«  Essay  on  Sheep. 

'^  when  fed  upon  hay;  but  this  water  is  not  in 
"  sufficient  quantity,  and  possesses  not  the  same 
*'  quality  as  the  liquid  of  the  grass  evaporated 
^^  in  drying. 

'^  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  this  difference 
^'  in  regimen  is  productive  of  bad  effects.  I 
^^  shall  mention  some  proofs  of  it,  which  are 
'^  indeed  too  evident  and  too  frequent. 

"  In  countries  where  the  snow  remains  upon 
'^  the  ground  for  one  or  two  months,  the  cattle 
"  are  reduced  to  dry  fodder  so  long  as  it  lasts; 
^'  then  the  weaker  sheep,  and  chiefly  the  lambs, 
"  the  sheep  of  the  second  year,  the  pregnant 
''  ewes,  and  those  in  milk,  languish  and  drop 
"  off.  Shepherds  denote  this  miserable  state  by 
*^  saying,  they  melt  their  fat:  they  certainly 
"'  grow  very  lean,  and  fall  off  in  great  num- 
'^  bers. 

'^  I  have  often  reflected  upon  the  cause  of 
"  this  evil,  and  the  means  of  preventing  it, 
"  After  having  prosecuted  every  inquiry  I  could 
"  think  of,  it  appeared  to  me  to  arise  solely 
"  from  a  change  of  diet  too  suddenly  effected. 
"  In  one  day  the  sheep  are  reduced  from  eight 
^'pounds  of  grass  to  about  two  pounds  of  dry 
**  fodder  and  three  pounds  of  water.  They 
"  are  thus  deprived,  therefore,  all  at  once,  of 
^'  three-eighths  of  their  wonted  nourishment. 


Essay  on  Sheep.  11$ 

^'  and  these  three-eighths  composed  the  half  of 
''  the  fluid  part  of  it. 

"  According  to  my  experience  of  the  quan- 
"  tity  of  water  taken  by  sheep,  it  appears  that 
"  their  drink  can  only  supply  one-half  of  the 
"  liquid  which  grass  contains  more  than  hay. 
"  It  would  be  dangerous  to  excite  them  to  drink 
"  a  greater  quantity  of  water,  because  they  are 
"  very  subject  to  infiltrations.  We  must,  there- 
"  fore,  endeavour  to  supply  them  with  at  least 
''  a  small  quantity  of  fresh  food  every  day,  in 
*'  order  to  correct  the  bad  effects  resulting  from 
*'  dry  meat. 

"  The  most  sensible  of  these  bad  efl'ects  ap- 
**  pears  in  the  third  stomach,  composed  in  the 
'^  interior  of  a  great  number  of  membraneous 
"  folds,  detached  one  from  another,  although 
'^  it  is  only  from  eight  to  ten  inches  in  circum- 
*^  fercnce  when  filled  with  air.  During  rumi- 
*'  nation,  the  food  passes  from  the  throat  into 
^'  this  third  stomach,  and  spreads  amongst  all 
^'  these  folds.  I  have  there  found  it  very  fre- 
''  quently  parched,  and  almost  withered,  in 
"  many  sheep  which  I  have  dissected. 

"  This  aliment,  after  having  been  ruminated, 
**  receives,  in  the  third  stomach  of  the  sheep, 
'^  and  of  other  animals  that  chew  the  cud,  a 
♦^  preparation  for  digestion,  which  latter  take.*? 


116  Essay  on  Sheep. 

^^  place  only  in  the  fourth  stomach.  The  ali- 
"  ment  is  dry  in  the  third  stomach,  not  only 
"  when  the  animal  is  fed  solely  upon  dry  meat, 
*'  which  has  not  furnished  sufficient  liquid,  but 
"  also  when  attacked  by  some  disease  causing 
"  too  great  heat,  and  consequently  too  great 
'*  evaporation  of  the  liquids  necessary  to  diges- 
"  tion.  In  these  cases,  bad  digestion,  and  the 
"  evils  attending  it,  maybe  prevented  by  giving 
*'  some  green  food  at  least  once  a  day. 

^'  At  all  times  when  the  ground  is  not  covered 
*'  with  snow,  sheep  find  upon  it  sufficient  fresh 
'*  food  to  render  it  unnecessary  to  give  them 
''  any  in  the  rack  with  their  dry  meat,  in  a  bad 
^'  season.  I  have  often  stopped  in  the  midst  of 
*'  a  flock,  in  fields  half  covered  with  snow, 
"  where  no  grass  whatever  was  to  be  seen ;  the 
^*  sheep,  however,  having  their  eyes  near  the 
"  ground,  perceived  the  points  of  some  leaves, 
*'  and  scratched  with  their  feet  to  find  more  of 
"  the  plant;  they  then  seized  it  with  their  teeth, 
'*  and  sometimes  pulled  up  the  roots  along  with 
''  the  leaves.  But  when  the  snow  entirely  co~ 
^'  vers  the  ground  to  a  certain  thickness,  there 
"  is  no  other  recourse  than  in  the  plants  which 
"  arc  high  enough  to  enable  the  sheep  easily 
"to  remove  the  snow  which  covers  them. 
"  There  arc  many  kinds  of  cabbages,  such 


Ksmy  on  Sheep,  117 

*'  as  the  fringed  cabbage,  which  are  very  tall; 
"  they  resist  the  frost,  and  their  leaves  contain 
"  much  juice.  These  form  an  indifferent  arti- 
'*  cle  of  food  for  sheep  in  times  when  they  are 
*^  not  reduced  to  dry  meat;  but,  if  confined  to 
"  this  aliment,  a  few  of  the  leaves  of  these  plants 
**  will  be  found  sufficient  to  obviate  its  prejudi- 
**  cial  effects. 

**  It  is  difficult  to  have  a  quantity  of  these 
"  cabbages  sufficient  for  numerous  flocks;  they 
*^  require  to  be  sown,  transplanted,  and  watered 
**  for  many  days;  and  this  culture  must  be  re- 
''  peated  every  year,  which  is  too  tedious  and 
*'  expensive  for  the  husbandman.  Whatever 
*'  advantage  may  attend  the  use  of  cabbages  as 
''  a  diet  for  sheep,  I  would  not  recommend  this 
''  plant  as  fodder,  had  I  not  met  with  a  species 
''  of  cabbage  which  may  be  reared  without  sow- 
^'  ing,  without  transplanting,  or  watering.  It 
^'  is  equally  unknown  to  the  naturalist  and  to 
''  the  agriculturalist.  Like  the  fringed  cabbage, 
"  it  resists  the  frosts;  and,  for  cattle,  is  preferable 
"  to  it,  being  very  easily  cultivated.  It  may  be 
''  propagated  by  cutting;  it  is  only  necessary 
*^  to  slip  off  its  lateral  branches,  which  are  nu~ 
*'  merous,  and  plant  them  in  the  earth,  to  have, 
"  in  a  short  time,  new  plants  over  the  whole 
*'  extent  of  a  well  cultivated  field.    The  leaves 


118  Essay  on  Sheep. 

**  are  less  than  those  of  other  cabbages,  but  the 
*'  juice  they  contain  is  as  abundant;  they  are 
^'  equally  good  food  for  the  shepherd  as  well 
^'  as  his  flock.  Some  handfuls  of  these  leaves 
*'  given  to  a  sheep,  will  correct  the  bad  effects 
*^  of  dry  food. 

"  The  regimen  of  sheep  is  one  of  the  im- 
^  portant  branches  of  veterinary  medicine.  This 
"  science  is  to  be  established  only  by  well- 
^*  founded  experience,  with  observation  and 
"  experiment  frequently  repeated  on  these  ani- 
"  mals.  An  intimate  acquaintance  with  them 
'*  in  their  natural  state,  is  necessary  before  at- 
^'  tempting  to  cure  their  diseases," 


(    n9   ) 


CHAPTER  III. 

MERINO  SHEEP, 

One  of  the  principal  objects  of  this  Essay 
being  to  impress  upon  my  fellow  citizens  the 
importance  of  cultivating  this  most  valuable 
breed  of  sheep,  I  propose  to  devote  this  chapter 
to  them,  in  addition  to  what  I  have  already 
offered. 

One  of  the  first  ideas  that  strikes  the  farmer 
is,  that  his  sheep  may  degenerate,  and  that  if 
the  quality  of  their  wool  should  change,  he 
would  have  put  himself  to  great  expense  to 
change  a  sheep  of  better  size  and  form  for  one 
which  he  imagines  to  be  inferior  in  both;  and 
he  is  strengthened  in  this  opinion  by  having 
observed,  that  most  of  the  British  sheep  that 
have  from  time  to  time  been  brought  here,  have 
degenerated.  This  I  confess  very  generally  to 
have  happened,  but  I  deny  that  any  inference 
injurious  to  the  Merino  breed  can  be  drawn 
from  it.  The  British  sheep  here  alluded  to  are 
the  long-wool] ed,  for  no  others  were  thought 
better  than  our  own.     This  race  of  sheep  can 


120  Essay  on  Sheep. 

only  be  advantageously  maintained  on  rich  and 
luxuriant  pastures,  and  an  ample  supply  of  suc- 
culent food  during  the  winter.  Experience 
has  taught  us  that  rich  pastures  will  add  to  the 
length  and  quality  of  wool  on  our  native  sheep, 
and  that  bad  keeping  will  diminish  it.  With- 
out attention  to  this  circumstance,  the  long- 
woolled  sheep  have  been  transferred  from  the 
fens  and  marshes  of  England  and  Holland  to 
our  dry,  short,  sweet  pastures;  from  which  it 
was  expected  that,  labouring  under  a  thick  coat 
of  long  wool,  and  contending  with  our  sum- 
mer sun,  they  should  be  able  to  fill  their  large 
carcases.  Not  having  pastures  adapted  to  their 
size  and  their  habits,  they  could  not  subsist  but 
by  gradually  accommodating  themselves  to 
ours.  This  necessarily  occasioned  a  diminution, 
first  in  the  quality  of  the  wool,  and  next  in  the 
size  of  their  descendants;  besides,  that  it  was 
very  rare  to  obtain  the  full  bred  sheep,  both 
rams  and  ewes,  and  to  preserve  them  unmixed. 
If  the  rams  bred  with  our  ewes,  their  progeny 
would  soon  be  reduced  to  the  size  of  the  ewes; 
directly,  because  of  the  mixture,  and,  indi- 
rectly, from  the  ewes  not  being  able  to  afford 
nourishment  to  a  larger  stock  than  nature  de- 
signed her  to  supj)ort,  without  the  most  uncom- 
mon care  in  feeding  her  w^hile  she  gave  milk. 


Essay  on  Sheep.  121 

It  Is  always  for  this  reason  very  injudicious  to 
breed  from  the  females  of  any  stock  of  a  race 
inferior  in  size  to  that  of  the  sire,  since  they 
will  in  such  case  necessarily  degenerate.  The 
reverse  will  take  place  where  the  ewes  are  larger 
than  the  stock  from  which  the  rams  spring. 
The  lambs  being  abundantly  nourished,  will, 
by  degrees,  attain  the  size  of  the  dam,  while 
they  preserve  the  other  peculiarities  of  the  sire. 
It  is  by  attention  to  this  circumstance  that  I 
have  already  greatly  improved  my  Merino  stock 
in  size  and  beauty,  when  I  have  bred  them  in 
the  fourth  generation  from  the  iinest  ewes  of 
the  country;  and  where  I  bred  from  imported 
ewes  I  have  attained  the  same  object,  by  afford- 
ing them  a  plentiful  supply  of  food  while  they 
nourished  their  young.  As  these  ewes  were 
themselves  of  the  largest  stock  of  Merinoes,  I 
have  gradually  added  to  the  size  of  their  pro- 
geny; and  I  have  now  full-bred  Merinoes  at 
Clermont  that  are  larger  than  the  common 
sheep  of  the  country;  and  my  half  and  three- 
quarter-breed  wethers  are,  when  stripped  of  their 
coats,  larger  and  much  handsomer  than  most 
of  our  native  flocks.  AVhen  the  fleeces  are  on, 
there  is  some  deception  in  judging  of  long- 
woolled  wethers,  as  they  seem  larger,  and  their 
defects  are  concealed  by  their  covering;  where- 
in 


1£2  Essay  on  Sheep, 

as  the  short,  close  wool  of  the  Merino  shows 
his  shape  precisely. 

•  But  to  return  to  the  question  of  the  degene- 
ration of  the  Merino  sheep.  So  far  as  a  scar- 
city of  food  may,  as  I  have  said,  operate  a 
change  for  the  worse  in  sheep,  it  cannot  apply 
to  the  Merino  when  introduced  into  our  coun- 
try; because,  not  requiring  better  pastures  than 
our  own  sheep,  there  is  no  reason  for  the  change 
of  size,  at  least  such  change  as  the  wool  of  those 
sheep  that  have  been  introduced  from  Britain 
has  undergone:  this  was  a  change  in  the  quan- 
tity rather  than  in  the  quality.  When  a  sheep 
diminished  in  size,  it  would  have  been  a  verv 
unwise  provision  of  nature  to  have  suffered  him 
to  carry  the  same  quantity  of  wool  which  he 
bore  upon  a  larger  and  a  stronger  carcass;  his 
w^ool,  therefore,  diminished  in  length  in  the 
same  manner  that  his  carcass  did  in  size;  but 
the  quality  of  the  wool  remained  the  same,  or;, 
if  any  thing,  changed  for  the  better.  So  if  the 
large  and  improved  breed  of  Merinoes  were 
kept  upon  very  scanty  pastures,  they  would  di- 
minish in  size,  and  carry  shorter  fleeces;  but 
those  fleeces,  even  under  the  worst  keeping, 
would  still  retain  all  their  original  properties. 
We  are  often  told  of  the  influence  of  climate 
m  effecting  changes:  that  it  operates  I  can  be- 


Kssay  on  Slieep,  123 

lieve,  but  T  also  believe  tl.at  it  operates  very 
slowly,  and  that  until  experience  has  determin- 
ed the  fact,  it  is  impossible  to  say  whether  that 
operation  will  be  for  the  better  or  for  the  worse. 
For  my  own  part,  I  believe  that  the  change  in 
the  Merino  sheep  brought  into  any  northern 
country,  provided  they  are  plentifully  fed,  will 
be  for  the  better,  and  particularly  when  brought 
hito  this  State,  where  the  pastures  are  good,  the 
air  and  waters  pure,  the  winters  cold,  and  the 
summer  range  furnished  with  shade.  I  should 
have  presumed  this  in  reasoning  a  priori ,  and  1 
have  found  my  theory  confirmed  by  actual  ex- 
periment. 

I  am  now  to  mention  a  circumstance  on 
which  I  ground  my  reasoning,  which  may  ap- 
pear fanciful  to  those  who  have  not  attended  to 
the  proofs  of  the  improvement  of  Merino  sheep 
in  high  latitudes.  The  Merino  differs  more 
essentially  from  every  other  kind  of  sheep  than 
the  Spanial  does  from  the  Mastiff,  and  yet  no 
one  has  seen  any  change  in  either  of  those  spe- 
cies of  dogs  in  a  course  of  generations,  or  in 
any  climate,  except  by  intermixture  of  the 
breeds.  I  say  the  Merino  differs  essentially  from 
all  other  sheep,  and  even  from  all  other  quad- 
rupeds of  which  we  have  any  knowledge,  as 
an  annual  docs  from  a  perennial  plant.     All 


124  Essay  on  Sheep. 

quadrupeds  change  their  coats  every  year,  and 
indeed  generally  twice   a  year:    the   Merino 
sheep  never  changes  his  coat;  on  the  contrary, 
it  will  continue  to  grow  from  year  to  year,  and 
at  the  end  of  the  third  year  the  fleece  will  yield 
a  three  years  crop,  with  little  or  no  diminution. 
This  experiment  has  been  tried  in  France,   in 
Switzerland,  and  in  England,  for  the  course  of 
three  years  successively,  and  always  with  the 
same  result.     The  wool  of  this  sheep  then  re- 
sembles in  its  duration  human  hair,  and  may 
probably  be  subject  to  the  same  physical  laws. 
Human  hair  is  affected  by  the  tissue  of  the  skin 
through  which  it  passes.     In  warm  climates  the 
hair  of  man  is  generally  black  and  coarse;  in 
cold  ones  we  find  flaxen,  yellow,  and  various 
shades  of  brown,  to  be  the  prevalent  colours; 
and  even  where  the  hair  takes  a  deeper  shade, 
it  is  finer  than  the  lank  black  hair  of  the  south. 
May  not  this  be  owing  in  some  sort  to  the  skin 
being  more  braced  in  one  and  more  lax  in  the 
other?  and  will  it  not  produce  the  same  effect 
upon  the  wool  of  an  animal  whose  fleece  is  pe- 
rennial, particularly  if  the  food  and  air  invigo- 
rate at  the  very  time  that  the  climate  braces 
the  fibres?     It  is  said  that  the  wool  of  the  com- 
mon sheep  is  sometimes  coarser,  as  he  is  either 
well  or  ill  fed.    This  may  happen  if  he  is  cither 


Essay  on  Sheep.  125 

sickly  or  in  full  health,   or  if  the  weather  Is 
more  or  less  cold  when  the  young  wool  pro- 
ti'udes  through  the  skin:  if  in  that  state  it  is 
compressed,  it  will  be  fine;   if  it  finds  an  easy 
passage,  it  will  be  coarse;  and  as  the  wool  of 
common  sheep  is  an  annual  production,  it  may 
frequently  vary.     But  the  fleece  which  never 
falls  off  must  be  subject  to  very  few  changes;  it 
may  be  longer  or  shorter,  but  the  root  being  the 
same,   it  will  probably  be  liable  to  no  changes 
but  such  as  arise  from  the  greater  or  less  com- 
pression of  the  skin  through  which  it  passes. 
Cold  then  will  have  a  tendency  to  render  the 
wool  fine;  heat  and  moisture  to  make  it  coarse. 
The  marten,  the  grey-squirrel,  the  common  fox, 
&c.  have  much  finer  fur  in  Siberia  and  Hudson's 
Bay,  than  they  have  in  Virginia  or  Pennsylvania, 
and  yet  they  are  exactly  the  same  animal.     It 
is  true,    the  men  of  very  high  latitudes  have 
similar  hair  to  those  near  the  line,  and  probably 
this  is  owing  to  the  same  cause :  in  summer  they 
are  exposed  to  the  continued  rays  of  the  sun, 
without  the  intervention  of  night,  which  must 
greatly  relax  them:  their  winter  is  a  continued 
night,   in  which  the  children  at  least  are  con- 
fined to  a  smoaky  hut;  their  diet  is  slender  and 
relaxing ;  and  the  general  habit  of  covering  their 
heads  and  greasing  tlieir  bodies  must  necessarily 


126  Essay  on  Sheep. 

tend  to  unbrace  the  skin  and  give  an  easy  pas* 
sage  to  the  hair.  We  find  an  exact  analogy  be- 
tween the  effect  of  climate  upon  the  covering 
of  sheep  and  that  of  other  quadrupeds.  The 
sheep  under  the  line  are  hairy;  as  you  go  north 
they  become  woolly,  and  farther  north  the 
wool  is  finest;  the  best  wool  in  Germany  is  that 
of  Saxony.  The  moist  climate  of  England  and 
Ireland  produces  long  and  coarse  wool.  It  is 
true  that  fine  wool  is  also  found  in  Persia,  and 
in  Cassimere  and  Thibet,  but  this  is  only  in  the 
very  cold  and  mountainous  parts  of  those  coun^ 
tries.  The  sheep  of  Siberia  are  coarse-haired, 
but  they  have  below  that  hair  a  coat  of  extremely 
fine  wool;  they  are  the  Mouflon,  or  Argali,  al- 
most in  their  native  state,  in  which  man  has  taken 
little  pains  to  cultivate  the  wool  at  the  expense 
of  the  hair,  but  permitted  them  to  grow  toge- 
ther; and  indeed  in  that  state  it  is  best  adapted 
to  the  wants  of  the  inhabitants,  who  know  not  the 
use  of  the  loom,  but  wear  the  skin  of  the  sheep, 
in  which  case  the  hair  is  as  useful  as  the  wool; 
for  it  protects  them,  as  it  did  its  original  owner, 
against  rain  and  snow,  which  would  penetrate 
the  wool  were  it  not  covered  by  a  surtout  of 
hair:  it  is  then  probable  that  the  Merino  sheep 
docs  not  owe  its  peculiar  excellence  to  the  cli- 
mate of  Spain,  or  to  the  mode  oi  treatment. 


Essay  on  Sheep.  I21 

Spain,  as  I  have  said,  contains  a  great  number 
of  long-woollcd  sheep,  hi  every  respect  differ- 
ent from  the  Merino:  the  climate  has  had  no 
effect  in  mehorating  their  fleeces;  the  migration 
does  not  contribute  to  it.  Tliey  have  in  various 
parts  of  Spain,  and  particularly  in  Estramadura, 
Merinoes  that  never  migrate,  and  whose  wool 
is  not  inferior  to  that  of  the  migrating  sheep; 
and  they  have  both  in  France  and  Italy  migrat- 
jng  sheep  whose  wool  is  not  fine. 

When  nature  forms  a  change  in  any  species 
of  plants  or  animals,  it  does  so  very  slowly,  and 
always  in  such  a  way  as  better  to  adapt  them  to 
the  climate  in  which  they  are  to  be  naturalized. 
Thus,  some  plants  which  are  perennial  in  warm 
climates,  both  root  and  branch  are  annuals  in 
colder  ones;  or  while  the  roots  of  others  survive 
the  winter,  their  stems  are  annually  renewed. 
The  same  plant  will  form  a  tree  in  one  climate 
and  a  shrub  in  another.  This  I  have  myself 
witnessed  in  the  fig,  which  I  have  seen  of  the 
size  of  a  bearing  apple-tree,  while  a  little  more 
north  it  was  a  shrub  of  very  moderate  size.  If 
then  the  fur  of  quadrupeds  and  the  hair  of  man 
are  finer  in  high  than  in  low  latitudes,  why,  if 
the  climate  effects  any  change  in  the  Meri- 
noes, should  it  not  be  for  the  better?  My  own 
experience  has  not  been  so  great  as  to  permit 


]2B  Essai/  on  Sheep. 

me  to  build  much  upon  it,  since  my  sheep  were 
only  introduced  in  1802;  but  as  far  as  it  goes, 
it  leads  me  to  believe  in  the  amelioration  of  the 
sheep,  either  from  the  effects  of  climate,  or  from 
attention.  The  original  stock  were  chosen  with 
very  peculiar  care  in  France,  after  the  most 
careful  examination  of  their  descendants;  they 
have  improved  in  size,  beauty  of  form,  and 
quantity  and  quality  of  the  fleece.  The  two 
first  improvements  are  too  obvious  to  admit  of 
the  least  doubt;  the  last  requires  so  nice  a  dis- 
crimination as  to  make  the  decision  more  diffi- 
cult in  all  but  one  instance,  where  the  difference 
is  so  striking  as  to  be  evident  to  every  observer. 
I  refer  to  a  ram  lamb  of  the  last  spring,  who  is 
out  of  an  imported  ewe,  while  his  sire  (who  is 
also  by  the  same  dam)  was  bred  upon  my  farm. 
This  lamb  is  of  the  most  uncommon  size  and 
beauty;  his  fleece,  compared  with  that  of  any 
other  of  my  improved  sheep,  or  with  any 
sample  that  I  have  been  able  to  obtain  of  others, 
is  indisputably  much  finer,  and,  at  the  same 
time,  so  long  and  abundant,  that  I  have  little 
doubt  of  his  yielding  at  least  eight  pounds  of 
wool  the  first  shearing.*  I  imported  the  summer 
before  last  a  very  fine  ram,  whose  fleece  has,  by 


^^  He  lias  been  sliovn  since tliis  v.ei.t  to  tlie  press,  and  gave  nine  pounds  six 
ounces  of  woof. 


Essay  on  Sheep.  129 

the  best  judges,  been  pronounced  superior  to 
any  they  had  examined;  yet  his  wool  is  cer- 
tainly not  better  than  that  of  the  lamb  I  speak 
of;  and  this  is  the  more  extraordinary,  as  the 
Merino  lamb's  fleece  is  never  so  fine  as  his  sub* 
sequent  growth. 

The  account  I  have  already  given  of  the 
flock  at  Rambouillet  shows,  that  instead  of  de- 
generating they  have  greatly  improved  in  the 
fineness  of  their  fleeces.  Dr.  Parry,  who  has 
lately  written  a  treatise  on  the  Merino  sheep  in 
England,  acknowledges  that  the  wool  of  the 
Rambouillet  flock  is  finer  than  that  imported 
from  Spain,  and  speaks  of  this  flock  in  the 
highest  terms  of  admiration:  he  also  adds,  that 
the  flock  of  Lord  Somervile,  and  of  his  Britan- 
nic Majesty,  as  well  as  his  own  flock  of  Meri- 
noes  in  the  fourth  generation  (fifteen-sixteenths), 
are  finer  than  the  wool  brought  from  Spain  to 
England,  and  proves  it  by  showing  that  it  re- 
quires two  pounds  of  imported  wool  to  make 
one  yard  of  the  finest  British  broadcloth,  and 
that  he  has  made  from  his  Merinoes  upwards 
of  twenty-six  and  a  half  yards  from  forty-two 
pounds.  This  is  something  more  than  one 
pound  nine  ounces  to  the  yard.  If  I  was  to 
determine  the  fineness  of  my  flock  by  the  same 
rule,  I  should  exceed  both,   since  the  same 

17 


ISO  ^ssay  on  Sheep. 

quantity  of  cloth  was  made  at  Clermont  by  com- 
mon country  spinners  and  weavers  from  one 
pound  four  ounces  of  Clermont  Merino  wool; 
and  thirty-two  and  a  half  yards  of  twenty-five 
-and  a  half  inches  wide,  were  made  in  Mr.  Ed- 
ward P.  Livingston's  family  from  sixteen  and 
three-fourths  pounds  of  wool. 

In  the  year  1723  Merino  sheep  were  carried 
to  Sweden,  where  they  have  greatly  multiplied, 
and  retained  their  original  purity.    If  long  cold 
winters,  and  even  bad  keeping,  would  change 
them  for  the  worse,  they  would  have  experi- 
enced that  change  in  upwards  of  eighty  years, 
during  which  they  have  so  greatly  multiplied 
as  to  have  stopped  the  importation  of  Spanish 
Wool  into  Sweden.     Indeed,  the  experience  of 
a  number  of  other  nations  has  put  it  out  of  doubt, 
that  the  Merino  sheep  do  not  degenerate  by  be- 
ing carried  to  a  cold  climate.     This  fact  being 
once  established,   what  is  to  stop  their  progress 
in  our  own  country?     I  have  already  shown 
how  the  most  indigent  cultivator  may,  in  the 
course  of  a  few  years,  convert  his  common  sheep 
into  Mcrinoes,  not  only  without  expense,  but 
with  profit.     If  he  fears  that  they  are  more  de- 
licate, and  require  more  care  than  our  common 
sheep,  I  can  assure  him,  from  my  own  expe- 
rience, that  though  like  all  others  they  v/ill  be 


Essarj  on  Sheep,  131, 

the  better  for  being  well  kept,  yet  they  will  not 
SiiiFer  more  from  neglect;  their  thick  and  close 
fleeces  fit  them  for  bearing  cold,  and  they  will 
in  every  mixed  flock  be  found  among  the  most 
thrifty  in  the  severest  weather.  The  objec* 
tion  to  their  size  I  have  shown  to  be  ill  found- 
ed, if  he  draw  his  stock  from  the  improved 
Merino;  and  even  if  he  begins  with  one  of 
the  small  race,  he  will,  in  some  years,  by 
breeding  out  of  good  ewes,  advance  gradually 
to  the  size  of  the  dams.  Nor  let  him  be  under 
the  least  apprehension  that  he  will  not  in  this 
way  have  as  fine  wool  as  if  he  bred  out  of  full- 
blood  ewes.  It  is  now  so  well  established  as 
not  even  to  admit  of  the  smallest  doubt,  that  a 
Merino  in  the  fourth  generation,  from  even  the 
worst  wooUed  ewes,  is  in  every  respect  equal  to 
the  stock  of  the  sire.  No  diflcrence  is  now 
made  in  Europe  in  the  choice  of  a  ram,  whe- 
ther he  is  a  full-bred  or  fifteen-sixteenths.  In- 
deed, Dr.  Parry  maintains,  from  his  own  expe- 
rience, that  they  are  superior  to  full-blood  rams. 
He  says  that  the  wool  of  his  flock  (which  con- 
sists of  sheep  in  the  fourth  generation  from  the 
Ryeland  ewes)  was  injured  when  he  put  a  fine 
full-blood  Spanish  ram  to  it;  and  asserts,  that 
any  person  beginning  a  stock  with  an  imported 
ram,  will  be  eight  years  behind  one  that  begins 


132  Essay  on  Sheep. 

with  a  fifteen-sixteenths  of  the  Ryeland  Meri* 
no;  and  I  can  easily  believe  that  there  is  some 
justice  in  the  remark,  since  I  cannot  conceive 
that  one-sixteenth  of  common  blood,  which  will 
only  be  one-thirty-second  in  the  offspring,  can 
make  any  difference  in  the  fleece;  whereas  con- 
siderable difference  may  be  occasioned  in  the 
beauty  and  vigour  of  the  flock  by  the  ram  hav- 
ing been  bred,  for  four  generations,  from  ewes 
of  the  country,  assimilated  to  the  climate  and  to 
the  manner  of  keeping. 

As  I  have  mentioned  the  Ryeland  ewes  as  the 
basis  on  which  Dr.  Parry  formed  his  stock,  it 
will  be  proper  to  give  some  description  of  them, 
otherwise  it  might  be  thought  that  they  pos- 
sessed some  peculiar  excellencies  not  to  be 
found  in  our  sheep.  An  account  of  them  is 
inserted  in  the  Annals  of  Agriculture,  vol.  xx. 
p.  15.  They  are  short- woolled  sheep,  yielding 
fleeces  of  from  one  and  a  half  to  two  pounds. 
The  best  of  these  fleeces  sell  at  two  shillings 
and  six-pence  sterling  the  pound,  without  the 
breachlngs;  they  weigh,  when  fat,  fourteen 
pounds  a  quarter.  From  this  description  it  is 
pretty  clear  that  they  are  not  better  than  our 
short-woolled  New-England  sheep,  and  yield 
less  wool.  It  has  always  appeared  to  me,  that  our 
native  stock  has  been  injured  in  this  State,  and 


Essay  on  Sheep,  133 

in  many  other  places,  by  crossing  them  with 
long-woolled  sheep;  and  upon  this  idea  I  have 
founded  the  recommendation  I  have  offered  of 
short-woolled  sheep,  as  forming  the  best  stock 
wliereon  to  graft  the  Merino  breed,  provided 
the  ewes  are  large  and  well  made. 

Having  mentioned  Dr.  Parry's  concurrence 
with  the  French  agriculturalists  in  the  opinion 
that  the  breed  is  completely  changed  in  the 
fourth  generation,  I  should  add,  that  he  men- 
tions one  instance  in  which  it  was  not.  This 
was  of  a  Merino  bred  on  a  Cape  ewe.  But  I 
think  this  proves  nothing,  because  a  Cape  ewe 
has  not  wool,  but  hair;  and  because  he  had  no 
means  to  ascertain  that  the  sample  shown  him 
had  really  undergone  no  other  cross.  The 
French  agriculturalists  say,  that  however  coarse 
the  fleece  of  the  parent  ewe  may  have  been,  the 
progeny  in  the  fourth  generation  will  not  show 
it:  and,  indeed,  I  have  seen,  and  deposited  with 
the  Society  of  Useful  Arts,  samples  of  wool  from 
sheep  of  every  description  that  could  be  pro- 
cured in  France  crossed  by  Merinoes,  and  can 
discern  no  dliference  between  those  in  the  fourth 
degree  and  the  original  stock.  It  follows  then, 
that  any  farmer  may,  in  the  space  of  six  or  se- 
ven years,  convert  his  common  flock  into  Me- 
rinoes, with  this  great  advantage,  that  during 


134  lE!.ssay  on  Sheep, 

the  whole  of  his  progress  he  is  annually  adding 
to  the  value  of  his  fleeces,  and  selling  off  old 
sheep  instead  of  lambs,  thus  reimbursing  him- 
self for  the  expense  of  his  ram,  which  is  the  only 
extra  expense  he  has  sustained;  and  he  is  also 
parting  with  a  number  of  male  lambs  at  a 
higher  price  than  hew^as  accustomed  to  receive 
for  those  of  his  old  stock.  The  wool  of  a  com- 
mon flock  barely  pays  the  keeping  ;  their  only 
profit  arises  from  the  sale  of  sheep  and  lamb^ 
which,  supposing  the  flock  to  consist  of  fifty  ewos 
and  fifty  wethers  and  rams,  and  that  thirty-five 
are  sold  off* yearly,  which  is  as  many  as  can  be 
calculated  upon  with  those  necessary  to  keep  up 
the  stock,  the  clear  profit  will  be  seventy  dollars 
upon  one  hundred  sheep.  An  half-blood  flock 
will  bring,  in  the  increase  of  quantity  and 
value  of  the  fleece,  one  dollar  and  more  upon 
each  sheep,*  even  counting  the  sales  of  lambs 
at  the  rate  of  common  sheep.  The  second  year 
then,  the  purchaser  of  a  ram  will  receive  one 
hundred  and  seventy  dollars  profit,  instead  of 
seventy.  When  the  flocks  are  three-fourths 
breed,  his  wool  will  rise  to  eighty-one  cents  in 
the  pound.  (I  state  the  lowest  rate,  mine  of  that 
grade  sells  at  one  dollar).    This  will  give  him  a 


*  Tlie  (VifTcTeuci'  of  profit  hetw  ecn  tlic  half-brccd  aiul  tiie  common  sTicep,» 
St  my  last  shearing,  was  tvo  dollars  and aix  ccnlTS  pa*  licad. 


Essay  on  Sheep.  133 

tjlear  profit  of  one  dollar  and  fifty  cents  per  head 
beyond  the  vahie  of  his  old  fleece,  or  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  dollars  added  to  the  price  of  sheep 
sold  at  seventy,  bringing  his  profit  to  two  hun- 
dred and  twenty  dollars  clear  of  all  expense* 
When  his  flock  consists  of  seven-eighths  breed 
sheep,  his  wool  will  rise  to  one  dollar  and  twenty- 
five  cents  the  pound;  I  sell  mine  at  one  dollar 
and  fifty  cents.  Supposing  the  fleeces  of  his 
€wes  and  wethers,  taken  together,  to  weigh 
three  and  a  half  pounds,  his  flock  will  bring 
him,  after  deducting  all  expenses,  which  I  rate 
at  one  dollar  and  fifty  cents  per  head,  two  dol* 
lars  and  seventy-five  cents  each,  exclusive  of 
Iambs;  that  is,  two  hundred  and  seventy-five 
dollars;  which,  added  to  the  sheep  sold,  seventy 
dollars,  makes  a  clear  profit  of  three  hundred 
and  forty-five  dollars  annually.  When  his  flock 
are  full-bred,  he  will  receive  two  dollars  per 
pound  for  his  wool,  which,  at  three  and  a  half 
pounds  the  fleece,*  will  give  him  seven  dollars 
per  head,  or,  deducting  the  keeping,  five  and 
'a  half  dollars;  that  is,  five  hundred  and  fifty 
dollars,  added  to  sheep  sold,  seventy,  making 
an  annual  profit  of  six  hundred  and  twenty  dol- 
lars instead  of  seventy,  which  his  common  sheep 

*  Mine  avei'ageii  the  last  shearing  npwavds  of  five  pounds  the  ewe's  fleece. 


13^  Essay  on  Sheep. 

would  have  brought  him.  In  this  I  have  stated 
nothing  for  the  increased  value  of  the  lambs 
sold,  lest  it  should  be  said  that  no  sale  may  offer 
for  them.  This,  however,  is  an  error,  in  a  coun- 
try so  rapidly  increasing  as  ours,  and  which  does 
not  grow  one-fifth  of  the  wool  necessary  for  its 
own  consumption;  and  when  all  the  stock  of 
sheep  will  be  converted  by  intelligent  farmers 
into  Merinoes,  there  will  be  a  demand  for  lambs 
for  at  least  twenty  years,  at  an  advanced  price; 
so  that  I  have  no  hesitation  in  saying,  that  the 
profit  upon  the  lambs  will  be  more  than  equal 
to  thatof  the  wool.  To  state  the  account  fairly 
then,  the  annual  profit  should  be  doubled. 
Provided  the  farmer  sets  out  with  the  best  stock, 
and  takes  care  to  breed  only  from  good  ewes, 
he  will  find  demand  for  any  number  he  may 
wish  to  part  with. 

I  have  already  anticipated  what  it  was  neces- 
sary to  say  as  to  the  choice  of  the  ram,  and  the 
manner  of  forming  and  keeping  a  flock.  It 
may,  however,  be  said,  that  when  this  breed  is 
more  diffused,  the  price  of  the  wool  will  fall. 
I  am  not  of  this  opinion,  because,  besides  our 
own,  there  will  be  a  foreign  demand.  This 
wool  now  sells  in  England  at  seven  shillings  and 
three-pence  sterling,  and  is  constantly  rising. 
But  admit  that  it  should  fall,  it  is  certam  that 


Essay  on  Sheep.  137 

common  wool  will  fall  much  more  rapidly;  be- 
cause, when  habituated  to  fine  soft  clotli,  few 
will  wear  the  harsh,  hard,  heavy  clothing  we 
»  are  now  content  with,  p  irticularly  if  fine  wool 
IS  reduced  in  price.  The  relative  difierence 
between  the  Merino  and  common  sheep  will 
not  change;  if  the  Merino  wool  brings  less,  tlie 
common  wool  will  not  bring  enough  to  pay  for 
the  keeping  of  the  sheep. 

So  much  respect  is  due  to  the  opinion  of  Mr. 
Custis,   who  has  laboured  with  great  zeal  and 
success  in  the  improvement  of  sheep,  that  it 
cannot  but  be  proper  here  to  state  and  consider 
his  reflections  on  the  Merino  breed  of  sheep, 
contained  in  his  very  valuable  publication.    He 
thinks  that  the  Merino  breed  will  not  be  gene- 
rally extended,   because  of  the  high  price  at 
which  the  rams  are  held;  one  hundred  dollars 
being,  as  he  supposes,  the  price  of  a  ram,  which 
was   that   at   which  they  were  sold  when   he 
wrote,  but  they  have  since  risen  to  one  hundred 
and  fifty  dollars.     The  reverse  I  conceive  to  be 
the  ca  e;  the  high  value  at  which  they  are  rated 
will  continue  in  two  ways  to  extend  the  breed. 
First,  by  yielding  a  great  profit  to  the  breeder; 
and,   next,   by  introducing  more  from  abroad. 
If  a  farmer  believes  he  can  sell  his  half-blood 
rams  or  ewes  at  twelve  dollars,  their  present  price. 


138  Essay  on  Sheep. 

he  will  more  readily  purchase  a  ram  at  one 
hundred  and  fifty  dollars,  than  he  would  have 
bought  him  atone  hundred,  if  he  could  only  sell 
his  lambs  at  two  dollars.  One  ram  will  bring  him 
fifty  lambs;  this,  at  twelve  dollars,  is  six  hun-- 
dred  dollars:  with  a  ram  at  ten  dollars  he  could 
have  fifty  lambs,  worth  two  dollars,  which  is 
one  hundred  dollars;  deduct  the  price  of  the 
ram,  and  in  one  case  he  gains  ninety,  and  in 
the  other  four  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  the  first 
year;  the  second  year  he  gains  in  the  one  case 
one  hundred,  and  in  the  other  six  hundred 
dollars,  the  expense  of  keeping  being  the 
same  in  both  stocks.  It  was  not  till  the  price 
of  rams  rose  very  high  that  any  important  im- 
provement was  made  in  British  sheep,  and  this 
is  precisely  the  case  in  this  State.  All  the  full- 
bred  rams  of  tlie  Clermont  stock  were  bespoke 
before  the  first  of  January,  at  one  hundred  and 
fifty  dollars;  and  one  thousand  dollars  has  been 
refused  for  the  ram  Itimb  of  ten  months  old  that 
I  have  before  mentioned,  and  two  hundred  for 
his  brother,  dropped  at  Christmas,  and  only 
three  weeks  old  when  the  ofter  was  made  by 
an  cnliq-htened  finniier  of  Massachusetts.  What 
is  all  farming  but  an  adv^ance  made  with  a  view 
to  future  prolitr  No  man  refuses  to  sow  wheat 
because  the  seed  is  dearer  than  rye.     A  rich 


Essay  on  Sheep,  1 39 

Virginia  farmer,  who  puts  in  one  hundred  acres 
of  wheat,  cannot  estimate  the  ploughing,  har- 
rowing, seed,  and  liarvesting,  at  less  than  five 
dollars  and  hfty  cents  per  acre;  his  returns,  if  I 
rightly  remember  the  information  I  received 
from  our  departed  hero,  Washington,  will  fall 
short  of  seven  bushels  to  tlie  acre;  thrashincy  and 
carrying  to  market  will  amount  to  about  fifty 
cents  more;  so  that  upon  a  capital  of  five  hun- 
dred dollars  he  seldom  receives  two  hundred, 
taking  wheat  at  its  average  price  for  the  ten 
years  last  past.     This  falls  greatly  short  of  the 
profit  upon  the  amount  of  two  Merino  rams 
put  to  one  hundred  ewes,  if  the  lambs  were  sold 
at  the  rate  I  mention;    but  putting  the  lambs 
out  of  the  question,  and  supposing  the  profit 
to  be  made  only  upon  the  fleeces,  then  a  far- 
mer who  had  a  fine  flock  of  sixty  ewes,  averag- 
ing three  and  a  half  pounds  of  wool,  worth 
thirty-seven  and  a  half  cents,  that  is,  one  dollar 
thirty-one  and  a  quarter  cents  each,  (the  lambs 
paying  the  expense  of  keeping,)  would,  by  put- 
ting the  same  ewes  to  Merino  rams  of  the  im- 
proved breed,   gain   a  stock  of  lambs  which 
would  the  first  year  give  him  fleeces  weighing 
four  pounds,  worth  seventy-five  cents  the  pound, 
and  a  ready  market:  thus  he  would  gain  upon 
-sixty  ewes  half  the  price  of  his  raai  the  first 


1 40  Essay  on  Sheep. 

year,  and  progressively  more  every  year  as  he 
teformed  his  stock. 

The  second  objection  to  the  Merino  is  the 
high  price  of  his  wool,  which  Mr.  Custis  sup- 
poses can   only  be  adapted   to  the  use  of  the 
rich,  while  the  low  price  of  the  common  wool 
j5ts  it  for  general  consumption.    If  Meruio  wool 
can  be  raised  as  cheap  as  that  from  common 
sheep,  it  comes  at  least  as  cheap  to  the  grower, 
and  therefore  he  may  wear  a  coat  of  fine  wool 
at  no  greater  expense  than  one  of  coarse  cloth; 
and   there  can   be   no  sort  of  doubt  that  if  it 
is    manufactured    exactly    as    the    other,    tlie 
coarse  cloth  made  from  fine  w^ool  will  outlast 
two  made  from  harsher  materials,  and,  at  the 
same  time,  be  warmer.     If  blankets  and  flan- 
nels arc  a  domestic   manufacture,   both   these 
articles  will  come  as  cheap  to  the  growlers  of  the 
wool  as  if  made  from  the  long-wool  led  sheep, 
and   certainly  will    be   infinitely  warmer  and 
lighter.     If  a  man*s  land  is  such  as  to  bring  him 
a  good  crop  of  wheat,  he  certainly  will  not  sow 
rye  or  buckwheat,    but   will    prefer  wheaten 
bread  for  his  family;  or,  if  he  is  an  economist, 
he  will  sell  his  wheat  and  buy  rye.      Is  it  not 
exactly  the  same  with  Merino  wool?     If  he  is 
in  easy  circumstances,   he  will  manufacture  it, 
and  sell  the  excess  beyond  what  he  wants  for 


Essay  on  Sheep.  141 

his  own  consumption,  at  such   a  price  as  will 
pay  his  weaver,  his  dyer,   his  dresser  of  cloth, 
his  tailor,  and  perhaps  as  much  more  as  to  pay 
for  the  keeping  of  his  sheep:   whereas,   if  he 
raises  common  sheep,    unless  he  keeps  much 
larger  flocks  than  are  necessary  for  his  own  use, 
he  has  nothing  to  pay  these  expenses;   nor  in- 
deed,  in  the  northern  States,  whatever  be  the 
size  of  his  flock,  can  he  sell  any  thing,  since  the 
fleece  hardly  pays  the  keeping.      Ten  Merino 
sheep  beyond  those  whose  fleeces  he  empl  ys, 
will  give  him  thirty-five  pounds  of  wool,  which 
will  sell  at  seventy  dollars,  the  present  price  of 
Merino  wool  being  two  dollars  the  pound.  1  his 
will  not  only  pay  for  that  part  of  the  manufac- 
ture of  cloth  which  is  done  out  of  the  family, 
but  will  leave  him  an  excess  for  other  purposes. 
There  are  few  farmers  that  cannot  spare  the 
wool  of  ten  sheep;  but  if  these  were  even  very 
good    common   sheep,  their  fleeces,   at  three 
pounds,  would  amount  to  no  more  than  fifteen 
dollars;  so  that  he  must  draw  upon  some  other 
fund  to  pay  the  tradesmen  employed  in  cloth- 
ing his  family.     Which  stock  of  sheep  then  is 
best  adapted  alike  to  the  poor  and  the  rich? 
certainly  that  which,  after  furnishing  the  ma- 
terial, pays  for  making  the  cloth  by  the  high 
price   at  which  a  small  excess  is  sold,     Mr. 


1 42  Essay  on  Sheep. 

Custis,   however,    presumes  that  much  larger 
fleeces  are  obtained  from  other  sheep,  particu- 
larly from  the  Smith's  Island  and  the  Arling- 
ton.    It  is  possible  that  Mr.  Custis  has  drawn 
this  inference  from  not  having  seen  the  im- 
proved   Merino   breed,    and    perhaps    in    this 
view  his  deduction  may  be  less  erroneous;  but 
from  the  account  I  have  given,  on  the  best  au- 
thority, of  the  flock  at  Rambouillet,  it  appears 
that  they  carry  heavier  fleeces  of  fine  short  wool 
than  the  Arlington  breed  do  of  long  wool.     I 
infer  this  from  the  letter  of  Mr.  Foote,  which 
is  contained  in   the   pamphlet:    from  his  ac- 
count five  and  a  half  pounds  of  wool,  of  about 
twelve  inches  in  length,  is  the  average  of  ewe 
lamb's  wool  in  the  first  year,  when  the  fleece 
is  always  the  heaviest;  because,  instead  of  one 
year,  it  is  generally  of  fourteen  months  growth. 
Mr.  Lasteyrie,  in  his  report  to  the  National  In- 
stitute in  the  year  1802,  states,  that  the  medium 
weight  of  full  grown  nursing  ewes  was  eight 
pounds  seven  ounces;  of  the  ewes  of  three  years 
old  which  had  no  lambs,  nine  pounds  thirteen 
ounces;  and  two-tenths  ewes,  ten  and   a  half 
pounds.    Now,  making  every  allowance  for  the 
greater  quantity  of  dirt  contained  in  flocks  kept 
as  those  in   France  are,  I  think  we  may  state 
their  weight  as  at  least  equal  to  those  of  Mr. 


Essay  o?i  Sheep.  1 43 

Foote's  ewes;  and  yet  Mr.  Foote's  sheep  are 
evidently  superior  to  the  sheep  of  the  country, 
whose  average,  under  similar  circumstances, 
would  certainly  not  exceed  three  and  a  half 
pounds.  My  own,  however,  have  not  been  so 
high  as  Mr.  Lasteyrie^s,  and  have  not  fallen 
much  short  of  Mr.  Footers.  Three  full-bred 
ewes,  all  having  lambs,  gave  the  year  before  last 
eleven  pounds  and  three  quarters,  or  near  four 
pounds  each.  Last  year  I  did  not  keep  a  se- 
parate  account,  but  as  they  were  in  better  order, 
I  think  the  average  was  near  five  pounds. 
This  year  seven  fleeces,  after  ihey  had  been 
soaked  twenty  hours,  and  then  washed  in  warm 
water,  weighed  twenty-six  pounds,  but  this  in- 
cluded two  ram  fleeces.  Supposing  them  to 
have  lost  no  more  than  common  wool  would 
have  done,  which,  by  such  perfect  washing, 
would  not  have  been  less  than  one  third,  they 
would  then  have  weighed  five  pounds,  which 
falls  only  half  a  pound  short  of  the  Arling- 
ton sheep.  These  seven  fleeces  would  have 
sold  for  fifty-two  dollars  cash;  whereas  seven 
of  Mr.  Footers  fleeces,  reduced  one  third  by 
washing,  would  only  have  produced  (selling  at 
the  usual  price,  thirty-six  cents  a  pound)  eigh- 
teen and  a  half  dollars;  and  yet  his  sheep, 
being   larger,    would   have    demanded    more 


144?  Essay  on  Sheep. 

keepin-^.     If  this  is  to  be  observed  of  one  of 
the  finest  American  flocks  how  much  greater 
will  be  the  balance  in  favour  of  the  Clermont 
Merinoes,  when  they  are  set  in  opposition  to 
the  sheep  of  the  country?     It  is  also  an  error 
to  suppose  tliat  there  is  little  consumption  of 
fine    cloth   in    this   country.      There  are    few 
people  in  our  cities  who  wear  such    cloth    as 
can  be   made  from  British  wool,    the  finest  of 
which  will  not  make  cloth  of  the  value  of  more 
than  thirteen  shillings  sterling  per  yard.     The 
first,  second  and  third  cloths  are  all  made  from 
Merino  wool  of  different   grades   of  fineness* 
Nor,  if  we  may  believe  Anderson,  is  there  any 
cloth   in  which   Merino  and   British  wool  are 
mixed  ;  their  qualities  being  so  dissimilar,  and 
they  shrink  so  diiferently  in  the  pulling,    that 
they  cannot  be  worked  together.      It  is  also   a 
mistake  to  suppose  that,  with  the  same  materials, 
we  cannot  make  cloth  of  the  same  quality,  and 
at  the  same  price,    with  that  of   Britain.     We 
now  card   by  water,  and  spin  with  jennies;  so 
that  much  of  the  labour  is  saved.      I  have  for 
three  years  past  been  in  the  habit  of  manufac- 
turing all  the  cloth  necessary  for  my  own   use 
and  for  the  use  of  my  very  large  family;  and  I 
can  say  with  certainty,  that  I  can  manufacture 
cloth  of  every  quality  from  three  to  ten  dollars 


Essay  on  Sheep,  1 45 

per  yard  so  much  cheaper  as  to  receive  two 
dollars  for  my  fine  wool,  and  one  dollar  and 
fifty  cents  for  the  second,  and  at  least  one  dol- 
"  lar  for  half-bred  wool,  and  yet  save  20  per  cent, 
upon  the  manufacture,  besides  great  gain  in  the 
superior  strength  of  the  cloth.     This  is  very 
conceivable  by  those  who  calculate  the  expenses 
with  which  British  manufactures  are  loaded  be- 
fore they  come  to  us,  which  much  more  than 
compensate  the  difference  in  the  price  of  la- 
bour.   1st.  The  manufacturer's  profit.    2d.  The 
purchase  and  transportation  to  a  sea-port.     3d. 
The  commission  to  the  merchant  in  England. 
4th.  Four  per  cent.  British  duty.    5th.  Freight, 
^th.  Insurance.     7th.  American  duty,  seven- 
teen and  a  half  per  cent.    8th.  The  merchant's 
profit,  which  is  never  less  than  fifteen  per  cent. 
9th.  The  retailer's  profit.     Take  all  these  items 
together,  and  they  will  not  fall  short  of  cent, 
per  cent.     The  difierence  between  the  price  of 
labour  bestowed  upon  a  piece  of  cloth  of  any 
degree  of  fineness  in  Europe  or  America,  bears 
no  proportion  to  this:  for  instance,  two  pounds 
of  the  finest  Merino  wool  makes  a  yard  of  su- 
perfine broadcloth,  which  sells  in  England  at 
twenty-four  shillings  sterling;   the  wool  costs 
there  fourteen  shillings  and  six-pence  sterling; 
the  merchant's  profit  upon  this  is  not  less  than 

19 


H6  Essay  on  Sfieej). 

ten  per  cent,  or  about  two  shillings  and  five^ 
pence;  the  whole  labour  then  employed  in  the 
manufacture  is  only  seven  shillings  and   one 
penny  sterling.     Suppose  the  price  of  labour 
here  to  be  fifty  per  cent,  higher,  which  exceeds 
the  fact,  then  the  price  of  the  material  being 
the  same,  the  cost  of  making  it  here  should  be 
three-eighths  more  than  in  England,  that  is,  three 
shillings  and  eight-pence  upon  twenty-four  shil- 
lings; and  cloth  of  that  price,  if  manufactured 
in  the  United  States  should  sell  for  twenty-seven 
shillings  and  eight-pence  sterling,  or  about  five 
dollars  and  sixty-three  cents  (five  shillings  ster- 
ling to  the  dollar),  whereas  no  imported  cloth  of 
that  quality  can  be  purchased  here  for  less  than 
twelve  dollars.    What  an  immense  saving  then 
would  it  be  to  the  United  States  to  cultivate  the 
breed  of  sheep  which  will  furnish  materials  for 
an  article  on  which  they  now  pay  upwards  of 
100  per  cent. !  what  a  field  does  it  open  both  to 
the  manufacturer  and  the  farmer!     While  the 
one  can  aftbrd  to  give  two  dollars  and  fifty  cents 
per  pound  for  wool,  the  other,  even  after  hav- 
ing received  that  advanced  price,  can  purchase 
his  cloth  much  cheaper  than  he  can  now  do, 
when  he  sells  the  fleeces  of  his  flock  at  thirty- 
six  cents  per  pound.     But  how  much  greater 
^till  will  be  the  profit,  if  he  manufactures  his 


Essay  on  Sheep.  147 

own  wool  into  fine  cloth  for  the  market !  I  will 
venture  to  say,  that  cloth  of  ten  dollars  the  yard 
may,  in  this  way,  be  made  superior  in  quality 
to  British  cloth,  though  perhaps  not  quite  so 
well  dressed,  for  three  dollars  per  yard,  of  seven 
quarters  wide,  and  give  the  farmer  a  profit  of  three 
dollars  per  pound  for  his  wool,  after  allowing 
one  dollar  as  a  commission  to  the  shop-keepers 
who  sell  his  cloth.  It  is  but  justice,  however, 
to  the  sheep  I  have  mentioned,  to  wit,  the 
Arlington  breed,  to  observe,  that  their  fleeces 
are  adapted  to  purposes,  to  w^hich  those  of 
the  Merino  cannot  be  applied  with  the  same 
advantage;  such  as,  the  making  of  worsteds, 
camblets,  sergers,  and  perhaps  fine  blankets. 
These  manufactures  require  long  combing  wool, 
whereas  cloth  demands  fine  short  w^ool,  and 
one  cannot  be  substituted  for  the  other  without 
loss.  Wool  which  is  intermediate  is  on  that 
account  inferior  to  either,  as  not  being  well 
adapted  to  cloth,  and  too  short  for  comb- 
ing. This  is  in  some  sort  the  character  of 
the  new  Leicester  or  Bakewell  wool;  were  it  a 
few  inches  longer  or  shorter,  it  would  sell  much 
higher  than  it  now  does ;  its  present  price  in  the 
British  market  is  only  ten-pence  sterling  per 
pound,  and  yet  it  is  of  a  tolerably  fine  staple. 
As  it  is  my  wish  to  direct  the  choice  of  the 


148  Essay  on  Sheep. 

farmer  to  such  slieep  as  will  suit  his  wants,  it 
will  be  proper  to  observe  here,  that  if  a  farm 
is  so  circumstanced  as  to  render  it  inconveni- 
ent to  keep  more  sheep  than  will  suffice  to 
clothe  the  family  and  employ  the  leisure  hours 
of  the  female  part  of  it,  I  would  recom- 
mend not  to  go  beyond  half-breed  Merinoes, 
Whatever  may  be  the  stock  of  ewes,  whether 
long  or  short-woolled,  I  can  with  certainty  as- 
sert, that  their  lambs  by  Merino  rams  of  the 
improved  breed  will  carry  heavier  fleeces  than 
the  parent  stock  on  either  side.  If  they  are 
short-woolled  sheep,  their  fleeces  will  not  only 
increase  in  quantity,  but  be  much  improved  in 
quality:  if  they  are  long-woolled,  the  improve- 
ment will  be  more  in  the  quantity  and  less  in 
the  quality.  But  in  either  case,  the  farmer,  in 
addition  to  the  increase  of  his  wool,  will  find 
this  essential  advantage  in  crossing,  that  every 
fleece,  if  carefully  sorted,  will  contain  as  much 
wool  as  will  make  clolli  which  no  gentleman 
farmer  need  be  ashamed  to  wear,  and  he  will 
besides  have  different  sorts,  of  inferior  qualities, 
suited  to  his  children  and  domesticks;  but  all 
will  be  more  uniformly  good  than  the  wool  of 
his  old  flock.  Even  if  his  flock  consist  of  quar- 
ter-breed Merinoes,  he  will  find  an  essential  dif- 
ference both  in  tlie  quantity  and  quality  of  his 


Essay  on  Sheep.  149 

wool.  The  average  of  my  half-breed  sheep  is 
four  pounds  and  three-quarters;  whereas,  with 
the  same  keeping,  the  stock  irom  which  the 
ewes  came  would  not  average  more  than  three 
and  a  half;  and  among  my  half-breeds  are 
many  whose  jfleeces  are  so  fine  as  to  make  cloth 
equTrt-to  imported  cloth  which  sells  at  four  dol- 
lars a  yard.  Sheep  of  this  grade  may  be  ob- 
tained at  a  very  cheap  rate  by  those  who  do  not 
choose  to  go  to  the  expense  of  a  full-bred  ram. 
Let  them  purchase  a  half-blood,  in  which  they 
will  have  the  advantage  of  a  considerable 
choice  of  tups,  and  may  select  such  as  are 
best  adapted  to  the  flocks  they  wish  to  im- 
prove, either  one  that  carries  a  large  and 
long  fleece,  or  one  whose  wool  is  short  and 
fine.  He  will  cost  twelve  dollars  and  fifty  cents; 
the  second  year  it  will  be  easy  to  dispose  of  him 
for  the  first  cost,  and,  by  doubling  the  price, 
to  purchase  a  three-fourths  breed  tup.  This, 
with  the  quarter  bred  lambs,  will  at  once  give 
an  half-bred  flock  at  the  expense  of  twelve  dol- 
lars and  fifty  cents;  he  may  then  select  the  tups 
from  his  own  flock,  and  sell  his  rams,  and  thus 
change  his  flock  to  half-blood  without  one  cent 
expense,  the  fleeces  of  the  rams  overpaying 
the  interest  of  the  money  and  the  keeping. 
The   extension   of  this   valuable   breed    of 


150  Essay  on  Sheep. 

sheep  is  of  great  importance,  as  it  relates  to  the 
community,  the  farmer,  and  the  manufacturer, 
and  even  to  every  class  of  society,  who  are  more 
or  less  affected  by  the  cheapness  and  goodness 
of  a  fabrick  which  all  employ,  as  well  as  by 
preserving  a  considerable  capital  within  the 
State,  and  affording  employment  to  numbers  of 
indigent  people,  in  whose  happiness  humanity 
interests  itself.  It  therefore  becomes  the  duty 
of  the  State  to  patronize  and  encourage  them. 
This  has  been  done  with  a  laudable  zeal  by  our 
Legislature:  the  premium  upon  the  introduc- 
tion of  Merino  rams  has  already  had  consider- 
able effect ;  the  bounty  upon  cloth  v/ill  have  a 
still  greater;  for  it  will  soon  be  apparent  to  the 
people  of  every  county,  that  the  first  prizes  can 
only  be  taken  by  cloth  made  from  the  wool  of 
the  full-bred  or  mixed  Merino  sheep,  and  its 
superiority  will  be  presented  to  their  eyes  in 
such  form  as  to  overcome  the  most  inveterate 
prejudices.  They  will  see  that  all  attempts  to 
make  line  cloth  from  coarse  wool  is  lost  labour, 
and  they  will  apply  it  to  the  use  for  which 
alone  it  is  adapted.  They  will  change  their 
flocks  as  soon  as  possible,  and  as  their  wool  will 
become  more  valuable,  and  meet  with  a  ready 
market,  they  will  find  an  advantage  in  increas- 
ing their  flocks.     Good  policy  however  would 


Essay  on  Sheep,  151 

dictate  the  continuance  of  this  bounty  for  the 
term  of  at  least  ten  years,  that  every  man  who 
has  his  flock  still  to  change  may  have  a  pros- 
pect of  benefiting  by  the  liberality  of  the  Legis- 
lature ;  for  within  less  than  half  that  time  the 
competitors  will  be  innumerable.  In  the  mean 
time  the  premium  on  cloth  operates  indirectly 
as  a  bounty  on  wool ;  for  many  families  that  raise 
no  wool,  as  the  wives  and  daughters  of  mecha- 
nics settled  in  the  country,  or  in  villages,  will 
find  a  pride  and  an  interest  in  contending  for 
the  prize,  and  will  become  purchasers  of  the 
raw  material  at  an  advanced  price:  the  most 
skilful  weavers  and  dressers  will  be  carefully 
sought  out,  and  the  celebrity  they  shall  re- 
spectively acquire  by  having  their  names  re- 
corded with  the  prize  cloth,  will  excite  emula- 
tion among  them,  and  afford  full  encourage- 
ment to  those  whose  skill  and  industry  shall  best 
merit  it.  It  may  be  a  question  how  far  it  would 
be  well  to  give  a  bounty  upon  certain  articles 
made  from  the  common  wool  of  the  country. 
For  my  own  part,  I  believe  it  unnecessary,  be- 
cause all  wool  of  that  kind  is  already  worked 
up  in  domestic  manufactures,  and  is  doubtless 
employed  in  that  way  which  is  most  useful; 
if  turned  to  a  different  use,  perhaps  neither  the 
public  or  the  individual  will  be  so  well  served 


152  Essay  on  Sheep. 

as  they  now  are.  But  if  a  contrary  senti- 
ment should  prevail,  then  I  think  the  bounty 
should  be  given  upon  worsteds,  serges,  and 
blankets;  because  this  would  turn  to  its  proper 
use  that  long  wool  which  is  misapplied  in  the 
making  of  cloth. 

In  Sweden  the  Merino  sheep  were  intro- 
duced in  1723;  they  at  once  became  a  national 
object,  and  a  bounty  of  twenty-five  per  cent, 
was  paid  upon  the  value  of  the  wool  to  the 
grower,  which  was  continued  to  1781,  when 
it  was  reduced  to  fifteen  per  cent,  and  in  1792 
it  was  suppressed ;  Sweden  then  possessing  up- 
wards of  100,000  full-bred  Merinoes,  and  be- 
ing able  to  supply  all  her  own  wants  without 
any  importation  from  Spain;  and  what  is  very 
extraordinary,  the  sheep  have  undergone  no 
change  for  the  worse  in  the  space  of  upwards 
of  eighty  years;  though  perhaps  Sweden  is  of 
all  the  cultivated  countries  I  know,  least  calcu- 
lated for  sheep;  the  length  of  the  days  during 
its  short  summer  parches  its  barren  fields,  and 
for  seven  months  it  is  buried  in  snow.  They 
shear  in  July,  and  the  average  weight  of  a 
ewe's  fleece,  when  washed,  is  three  pounds. 
They  keep  up  the  Spanish  practice  of  giving 
salt,  particularly  in  wet  weather. 

To  those  who  are  unacquainted  with  Spanish 


Essay  on  Sheep,  15  3 

wool  it  may  be  proper  to  mention  the  manned 
in  which  it  should  be  treated  before  they  at- 
tempt to  convert  it  into  yarn.  First,  it  should 
be  careiully  sorted;  that  on  the  neck,  shoul- 
der, back,  and  sides  is  the  finest;  that  on  the 
rump  is  almost  equally  as  fine  in  the  full-bred 
sheep,  but  not  in  the  mixed  breeds;  the  thighs 
and  belly,  the  top  of  the  head  and  forelock 
furnish  a  third  sort:  when  sorted  it  should  be 
put  in  a  vat  and  pressed  down,  so  as  not  to  float 
when  covered  with  water.  In  this  state  the  vat 
should  be  filled  with  clean  soft  water,  mixed 
with  one-third  of  urine,  and  left  to  soak  for 
about  twelve  or  fifteen  hours,  or  longer  if  the 
weather  is  cold;  a  cauldron  is  then  put  on  the 
fire  with  a  portion  of  soft  water,  and  to  this  is 
added  two-thirds  of  the  water  that  covers  the 
fleece :  when  it  is  so  hot  that  the  hand  cannot 
bear  it,  the  wool  is  to  be  taken  in  convenient 
parcels  and  put  in  an  open  basket,  and,  after 
the  liquor  is  pressed  out,  conveyed  to  the  caul- 
dron, where  It  is  washed  in  the  basket,  moving 
it  about  gently,  so  as  not  to  twist  it,  for  the  space 
of  two  or  three  minutes;  it  is  then  suffered  to 
drain  into  the  cauldron,  so  as  not  to  carry  oft' the 
water;  and  when  the  whole  Is  washed,  it  must 
be  cleansed  in  running  water:  if  the  water  in 
the  cauldron  gets  too  foul,  it  must  be  thrown 

20 


154'  Essay  on  Sheep. 

away,  and  replenished  with  more  of  the  liquor 
from  the  vat.    This  mode  of  washing  preserves 
in  the  wool   a  certain  portion  of  its  grease, 
which  makes  it  spin  easier.     When  washed  it 
may  either  be  dried  in  the  shade  (the  sun  ren- 
ders it  liarsh  if  too  hot),  or,  what  is  better,  it 
may  be  pressed  in  a  cyder  press,  which  dries  it 
much  quicker;  when  quite  dry  it  should  be 
laid  upon  cribbles,  and  beat  with  a  bunch  of 
rods,  which  softens  it,  and  takes  out  a  great 
proportion  of  the  dust  and  hay-seeds;  it  is  then 
picked  carefully,  not  as  common  wool  is,  but 
by  opening  the  flocks,  which  are  in  some  mea- 
sure tied  together  at  the  ends,  and  taking  care 
not  to  break  the  wool  to  pieces.     To  fit  it  for 
spinning  it  should  be  greased  with  neatVfoot 
oil,  and  carded  with  cotton  cards,  wool  cards 
being  too  coarse;  and  except  the  carding-mill 
is  particularly  fitted  for  it,  and  perfectly  clean 
from  common  wool,  it  will  run  into  knots,  and 
be  spoiled  if  carded  at  it.    For  domestic  manu- 
factures, from  Spanish  wool,  I  would  therefore 
recommend  the  carding   at  home   by  hand. 
In  Europe  it  it  usual,  before  spinning,  to  wash 
the  wool  in  the  manner  I  have  mentioned; 
yet,  from  some  little  essays  that  I  have  made 
upon  the  Merino  wool,  1  am  inclined  to  be- 
lieve, if  it  is  carefully  picked,  so  as  to  leave  no 


Essay  on  Sheep.  155 

liay-seeds  on  the  wool,  and  to  open  it  perfectly 
before  it  is  carded,  that  the  finest  thread  may 
be  made  of  unwashed  wool:  nor  do  I  think 
that  the  yarn  should  be  washed  before  it  is 
wove;  the  grease  adds  to  the  strength,  and 
renders  it  unnecessary  to  size  the  warp,  as  is 
usually  done;  more  allowance  should,  how- 
ever, be  made  for  shrinking.  This  must  not 
be  considered  as  an  ascertained  fact,  since  I  am 
now  only  in  the  course  of  trial. 

As  I  do  not  write  for  professed  manufacturers, 
but  for  farmers,  many  of  whom  have  never 
given  much  attention  to  the  best  mode  of  fa- 
bricating cloths,  I  will  venture  to  mention  what, 
though  well  known  to  the  first,  the  last  may 
not  yet  be  acquainted  with.  Common  wool 
can  hardly  be  too  much  carded.  Merino  may; 
the  first  gains  by  being  broke  to  a  certain  de- 
gree, the  last  is  injured.  In  spinning,  the  warp 
and  the  woof  must  be  spun  in  contrary  direc- 
tions,  because,  as  both  open  a  little,  and  the  ob- 
ject of  fulling  is  to  unite  the  ends  of  the  wool, 
so  as  to  raise  the  knap,  if  they  untwisted  the 
same  way,  they  would  unite  less  than  if  they 
met  each  other.  This  operation  is  effected  by 
spinning  the  one  with  an  open  band,  that  is,  a 
band  that  turns  the  spindle  in  the  same  direc- 
tion with  the  wheel,  the  other  with  a  cross  band. 


156  Essay  on  Sheep, 

which  turns  the  spindle  in  a  contrary  direction. 
Spectacle  de  la  Nature  says  it  should  be  the 
warp,  because  this  requires  to  be  most  twisted; 
the  Ejicyclopcedists  say  the  contrary,  assigning 
as  a  reason  that  the  smoothest  thread  can  be 
made  by  the  open  band,  and  that  it  is  necessary 
that  the  warp  should  be  particularly  smooth 
and  even;  that  inequalities  are  of  less  conse- 
quence in  the  woof,  because  they  are  corrected 
in  the  fulling.  I  have  not  sufficient  knowledge 
of  the  subject  to  decide  when  such  authorities 
differ:  but  in  either  case  the  woof  must  be  spun 
as  loose  as  possible.  This  renders  the  cloth  soft, 
and  makes  it  easier  to  raise  the  wool  for  shear- 
ing. To  facilitate  the  spinning  loose,  a  greater 
quantity  of  oil  must  be  used  in  spinning  the 
woof  than  in  spinning  the  warp;  for  the  first  a 
fourth  of  the  weight  of  the  wool  is  used,  for 
the  last  only  one-eighth.  This  must  be  under- 
stood as  applying  only  to  fine  yarn.  Coarse 
thread  is  strong  enough  in  itself  to  require  but 
little  grease.  Olive  oil  is  preferred  in  Europe; 
that  which  is  most  liquid  must  be  used  here. 
I  will  not  venture  a  farther  discussion  on  the 
subject  of  manufacturing  cloth,  since  this  in- 
formation will  be  better  acquired  from  practical 
manufacturers,  who  are  to  be  found  in  almost 
every  part  of  the  State, 


(      157     ) 


MISCELLANEOUS  CHAPTER. 

1  HE  necessity  I  was  under  of  sending  the 
preceding  part  of  this  little  treatise  to  Albany 
before  the  Legislature  rose,  though  in  an  un- 
finished state,  prevented  my  adding  several 
matters  that  might  properly  have  been  digested 
into  the  body  of  the  work,  and  which  I  must 
now  either  wholly  omit,  though  they  are  useful 
to  be  known,  as  illustrative  of  several  assertions 
which  I  have  made  therein,  or  throw  them  to- 
gether in  this  indigested  form.  I  have  prefer- 
red the  latter,  and  only  pray  that  this  chapter 
may  be  considered  as  a  page  from  a  memoran- 
dum book  in  which  no  order  is  to  be  expected. 
Having  been  so  fortunate  as  to  excite  the  at- 
tention of  my  fellow  citizens  to  the  improve- 
ment of  their  breed  of  sheep,  and  this  not  only 
among  experienced  farmers,  who  need  no  in- 
struction, but  among  a  great  number  of  those 
who  have  not  heretofore  felt  interested  in  the 
subject,  it  is  probable  that,  after  having  read 
what  I  present  for  their  consideration,  they  will 
be  inclined  to  look  into  the   British   writers. 


158  Essay  on  Sheep* 

many  of  whom  make  use  of  technical  terms 
well  understood  by  those  for  whom  they  write, 
but  which  will  need  explanation  here.  I  there- 
fore state  the  following  definitions  of  those 
most  in  use. 

A  male  lamb,  after  he  is  weaned,  is  called, 
during  the  first  year,  a  Hog,  or  Hoggit^  a  Tag. 
An  ewe  lamb,  during  the  same  period,  is  called 
an  Exve  Tag,  a  Gimmer,  In  the  second  year 
the  male  is  a  Shear  Hog,  or  a  two  toothed  Hog, 
or  Tag;  the  female  a  Thaive,  a  Gimmer,  or 
tivo  toothed  Ewe  Tag.  Third  and  fourth  year 
they  are  distinguished  by  the  same  names,  with 
the  addition  of  the  number  of  teeth  they  have 
changed.  The  fifth  year,  having  eight  broad 
teeth,  they  are  cM^A  full-mouthed  Sheep.  The 
age  of  the  ram  is  generally  denoted  by  the 
number  of  times  they  have  been  shorn;  the 
first  shearing  being  in  their  second  year — a 
sheaUng — oJie  shear — tivo  shear,  he.  In  the 
north  of  England  and  in  Scotland  an  ewe  lamb, 
after  weaning,  is  called  a  Diwmont;  and  in  the 
west  of  England  ram  lambs  are  called  pur- 
lambs.  Tup  and  ram  are  synonymous  terms  for 
a  covering  ram.    Crone  signifies  an  old  ewe. 

Gestation. — The  period  for  gestation  in  sheep 
IS  from  twenty  weeks  to  one  hundred  and  fifty 
days:  ewes  will  breed  twice  a  year,  and  may 


Essay  07i  Sheep.  159 

even  be  made  to  breed  thrice  In  that  time,  if 
they  are  kept  in  high  order,  and  not  suftered  to 
nurse  the  lambs.  I  have  two  or  three  that  have 
taken  the  ram  this  winter,  since  lambing,  and 
one  within  eight  days  after  lambing,  though  the 
lamb  was  running  at  her  side.  Whether  the  co- 
pulation will  be  productive  remains  to  be  seen ; 
if  It  should  (and  I  have  no  reason  to  think  it  will 
not),  the  lambs  will  fall  In  August;  of  course 
the  ewes  may  take  the  ram  in  October,  so  as  to 
lamb  again  in  March,  which  would  be  three 
times  in  the  course  of  the  year.  This,  how- 
ever, is  a  practice  by  no  means  to  be  recom- 
mended, as  I  think  it  would  injure  both  the 
ewes  and  the  lambs,  and  deteriorate  the  stock. 
Lamhs  at  birth, — In  most  breeds  of  sheep 
single  lambs  are  more  common  than  a  greater 
number;  but  in  some,  as  in  the  Dorsetshire, 
double  lambs  are  nearly  as  usual  as  single.  The 
Friesland  and  Tees- Water  sheep,  which  are  of 
the  large  long-woolled  species,  if  well  kept, 
bring  from  two  to  five  lambs  at  a  birth,  and  that 
sometimes  twice  in  a  year,  if  we  may  believe  an 
old  English  writer,  Barnaby  Gage,  who  says, 
"  It  hath  been  seen  in  Guilderland,  that  five  ewes 
^^  hath  had  in  one  year  five  and  twenty  lambs : 
**  It  may  seem,  peradventure,  to  many  incredi- 
*'  ble,  and  yet  no  great  marvel,  since  they  have 


1 60  Essay  on  Sheep, 

"  twice  a  year  most  times  two,  and  sometimes 
"  five  at  a  time.*'  Cully  gives  the  following 
instance  of  fecundity  in  a  Tees- Water  ewe : 
When  two  years  old  she  brought  four  lambs, 
then  five,  then  two,  then  five,  then  two;  the 
first  nine  within  eleven  months.  The  highest 
keeping  is  however  necessary  to  cause  this  fer- 
tility. 

Choice  of  rams. — I  have  already  given  direc- 
tions for  the  choice  of  a  ram,  but  as  this  is  an 
object  of  much  moment  in  forming  a  flock,  it 
will  be  well  to  know  the  opinion  of  ditferent 
agriculturalists.      Columella  recommends   that 
the  ram  be  tall,  with  a  pendant  woolly  belly,  a 
long  tail,  thick  fleece,  a  broad  forehead,  twisted 
horns  (though  if  without  horns  still  better),  and 
large  testicles;  not  to  be  put  to  ewes  till  three 
years   old,    and    not   after  eight. — Markham. 
"  The  ram  large  in  every  general  part,  with  a 
"  long  body  and  large  belly;  forehead  broad, 
**  round,  and  well  rising;  a  cheerful  large  eye, 
"  straight  short  nostrils,  a  very  small  muzzle, 
^'  by  no  means  any  horns  (for  the  hornless  are 
*'  the  best  breeders,  and  do  not  endanger  the 
"  ewe  as  the  horned  do);  a  large  upright  neck, 
''  somewhat  bending,  like  the  neck  of  a  horse; 
"  a  very  broad  back,  round  buttocks;  a  thick 
*^  tail,  and  short  jointed  legs,  small,  clean,  and 


Essay  on  Sheep.  1$1 

*^  nimble;  his  wool  should  be  thick  and  deep, 
"  covering  his  belly  all  over,  also  his  face,  even 
*'  to  his  nostrils,  and  so  downward  to  his  knees 
"  and  thighs/'  One  would  conclude  from  this 
description,  that  Markham,  who  wrote  in  the 
reign  of  Elizabeth>  had  copied  from  one  of  the 
Spanish  rams  imported  by  Edward  IV.  for  no 
sheep  in  England  answers  to  his  model. 

Folding, — I  have  passed  over  all  observations 
on  folding,  because  it  is  very  little  practised  in 
this  State;  and  wherever  it  is>  it  tends  to  the 
deterioration  of  the  flock;  and  from  experi- 
ments accurately  made  by  Mr.  L'Hommedieu, 
on  Long-Island,  it  appears  that  the  loss  in  wool, 
and  injury  to  the  sheep  and  lambs,  exceeded 
the  gain  in  manure. 

Signs  of  health, — Signs  of  health  in  sheep  are 
first  a  skittish  briskness,  clear  azure  eye,  florid 
ruddy  eye-strings  and  gums,  teeth  fast,  breath 
sweet,  nose  and  eyes  dry,  respiration  free  and 
regular,  feet  cool,  dung  substantial,  wool  fast 
and  unbroken,  skin  of  a  fine  florid  red,  particu- 
larly on  the  brisket.   Lawrence  on  Cattle,  p.  337. 

Season  of  la7nbs  falling,  and  food, — The  season 
for  putting  the  tups  to  the  ewes  depends  upon 
the  time  it  is  wished  to  have  the  lambs  fall;  on 
that  subject  I  have  given  my  sentiments.  The 
tups  should  be  ^^'ell  fed  in  the  season,  barley 

21 


i()^  Essay  on  Sheep. 

and  pease  or  Indian  corn  ground  together  should 
not  be  spared.  I  prefer  myself  to  make  them, 
or  even  wheat,  corn,  and  rye,  into  bread,  and 
give  him  a  slice  three  times  in  the  day.  This 
is  more  convenient  than  giving  loose  grain,  be- 
cause, if  your  ram  is  as  tame  as  he  should  always 
be,  he  will  receive  it  from  the  shepherd's  hand, 
so  as  not  to  render  it  necessary  to  take  him  up 
to  feed,  which  is  attended  with  a  great  deal  of 
trouble.  A  little  oats,  or  barley  in  troughs,  or 
Indian  corn  scattered  over  the  clear  sward,  from 
whence  they  will  pick  it  up  in  single  grains, 
will  bring  the  ewes  in  heart  (if  they  have  no 
lambs)  at  any  season  that  may  be  required.  If 
the  flock  consists  of  aged  ewes,  with  moderate 
care  it  will  at  least  double  annually.  If  a  con- 
siderable proportion  are  ewes  that  have  their 
first  lambs,  no  care  can  prevent  a  loss  of  at  least 
fifteen  per  cent,  upon  those  of  the  young  ewes> 
unless  indeed  the  flock  is  very  small.  The 
Merino  ewes  are  less  prolific  than  those  of  our 
country,  seldom  producing  twins. 

Salt, — I  have  mentioned  that  salt  was  con- 
sidered by  the  Spanish  shepherds  as  essential  to 
the  health  of  slieep,  and  this  sentiment  is  very 
general  in  every  part  of  Europe  except  in  Eng- 
'laml,  whose  situation  renders  the  air  sufiiciently 
*alt.    The  same  consequence  from  similar  causes 


Essai/  on  Sheep,  163 

takes  place  here.  Upon  Long-Island  and  else- 
where near  the  sea,  the  cattle  requu*e  no  salt,  nor 
manifest  any  desire  for  it;  whereas,  on  the  north 
of  the  Highlands  they  eat  it  ravenously,  and  it 
is  thought  essential  to  their  health.  The  anci- 
ents also  entertamed  similar  sentiments  on  this 
subject.  Aristotle  prescribed  one  peck  every 
five  days,  during  the  summer,  to  one  hundred 
sheep.  We  should  consider  this  as  a  large  al- 
lowance, but  it  would  be  readily  eaten.  They 
also  observe,  that  however  good  your  pastures 
may  be,  the  sheep  will  tire  of  them  if  not 
changed,  unless  their  appetites  are  kept  up  by 
salt. 

I  have  been  so  often  asked  how  much  food 
is  necessary  for  a  sheep,  and,  indeed,  a  solution 
of  the  question  is  so  important,  that  I  think  it 
right  to  state  all  that  I  can  collect  upon  the 
subject.  I  have  already  given  Daubenton's 
very  accurate  experiments,  and  they  may  serve 
as  data  to  determine  the  comparative  value  of 
grass  and  other  green  provender.  Lawrence, 
who  appears  to  be  an  accurate  and  well  in- 
formed agriculturalist,  says,  that  a  sheep  will 
eat  twenty  pounds  of  turneps  in  twenty-four 
hours,  but  that  one  gallon  of  potatoes  will  ge- 
nerally suffice;  from  which  it  would  follow, 
that  less  than  eight  pounds  of  potatoes  are  equal 


iG4?  Essai/  on  Sheep. 

in  value  to  twenty  pounds  of  turneps.     As  the 
size  of  the  sheep  are  not  given,  we  are  ignorant 
to  what  species  of  them  to  refer  this  assertion ; 
and  yet  they  differ  very  widely  from  each  other 
in  their  size  and  form,  upon  both  of  which  the 
quantity  of  food  necessary  for  their  support  must 
in  a  great  measure  depend.     He  states  also  the 
comparative  quantity  of  food   required   by  a 
sheep  and  an  ox  as  eight  or  nine  to  one.     A 
course  of  experiments  was  made  to  determine 
the  relative  quantity  of  food  eaten  by  different 
kinds  of  sheep.       Four  of    the  South  Down 
breed,  whose  weight  is  about  equal  to  twenty 
pounds  a  quarter,    eat  in  seven   days  twenty- 
nine  pounds  of  cabbage  and  seventy  pounds 
of  hay.     This  comes  to  two  and  a  half  pounds 
of  hay,   and   one  pound    nine-penny  weight 
of  cabbage,  which   exceeds  Daubenton's  cal- 
culation; but  not  more  than  may  be  accounts 
ed  for  from  the   different  size  of  the  sheep. 
Wiiat  follows  is  astonishing:  the  same  sheep  eat 
daily  of  green  vetches  one  hundred  and  seven 
pounds,  or  twenty-six  pounds  per  diem  each. 
Vetches  must  by  this  be  less  nutricious  than  na- 
tural grass,  nearly  as  two  and  a  half  to  one.    It 
is  possible  that  clover  would  afford  a  similar  re- 
sult.    This  ouglit  to  be  investigated.      It  is  not 
less  important  to  know  the  number  of  Merino 


Essay  on  Sheep,  \6S 

sheep  that  may  be  kept  upon  an  acre  during 
the  summer.  It  appears  trom  Lord  Somerville's 
experiments,  that  Ryeland  ewes,  crossed  by 
Merino  rams,  produced  a  fine  stock  of  wethers, 
which  were  fit  for  the  butcher  at  two  years  old, 
and  weighed  from  fifteen  to  twenty  pounds  the 
quarter,  and  tallowed  well.  He  adds,  that  they 
may  be  stocked  hard,  as  the  same  land  which 
carried  indifferendy  forty-five  long-woolled 
ewes,  maintained,  in  good  plight,  one  hundred 
and  fifty  Ryelands,  the  lambs  of  which  were 
weaned  in  high  order.  These  lambs  were  sum- 
mered on  the  same  land,  at  more  than  twelve 
per  acre;  and  although  kept  hard  during  the 
winter,  the  wethers  fatted  to  sixteen  pounds  the 
quarter.  Lawrence  adds,  "  I  have  been  assur- 
*'  ed,  from  good  authority,  that  221  acres  of 
"  pasture  vetches  and  turneps,  being  the  whole 
'*  of  the  land  on  which  the  sheep  run  last  year, 
'^  the  profit  of  a  flock  of  this  breed  (half  blood 
'^  Merinoes)  amounted  to  £\592  9s.  2d.  ster- 
^*  ling;  but  working  oxen,  and  other  horned 
*'  cattle  ran  over  the  same  land,  for  which  must 
'^  be  deducted  31  acres,  so  that  there  remain 
"  but  190  acres  chargeable  to  the  sheep,  mak- 
"  ing  a  return  of  <£l  4s.  sterling  per  acre  in  a 
"  most  disadvantageous  season,  on  account  of 
**  the  drought.     In  general  land  worth  a  gui- 


166  Essay  on  Sheep. 

*^  nea  and  a  half  per  acre,  will  carry  and  keep 
"  in  good  store  state  six  and  a  half  Spanish  Rye- 
'*  lands,  from  four  to  four  and  a  half  Spanish 
"  South  Downs,  allowing  turneps,  pease,  and 
**  haum  in  the  dead  winter  months.  The  larg- 
"  est  breed  of  South  Down  are  stocked  in  Sus- 
*'  sex,  at  the  rate  of  four  per  acre;  of  full-bred 
"  Merinoes,  an  acre  will  carry  a  proportionably 
greater  number.  They  have  been  found  very 
apt  to  take  on  both  flesh  and  fat;  for  two 
"  ewes  exhibited  at  Bath  fifty  guineas  were  re- 
**  fused.  One  acre  of  good  grass  will  keep  500 
*^  couple  a  day.  The  harder  you  stock,  the 
'^  more  grass,  and  the  more  sheep  you  may 
"  keep;  besides  that,  hard  stocking  will  render 
"  the  coarse  grass  fine." 

I  have  asserted  that  a  cross  with  Merino  rams 
upon  any  stock  would  add  at  least  one-third  to 
the  value  of  the  wool,  taking  quantity  and  qua- 
lity together;  I,  however,  presumed  this  from 
my  own  experience,  and  from  a  cross  I  had 
seen  between  a  Merino  and  a  long-wool  led  Bri- 
tish sheep.  I  have  since  met  with  the  follow- 
ing confirmations  of  my  assertions,  even  carry- 
hw,  them  much  farther  than  I  have  done.  I 
wished  to  confine  myself  to  the  strictest  bounds, 
that  every  man's  experiments  might  at  least  ve- 
rify mine,   and  excite  that  confidence  in  my 


Essay  on  Sheep,  167 

recommendations  which  I  wish  to  inspire. 
"  Mr.  Arbuthnot,  of  Bath  (formerly  a  woollen 
'*  manufacturer),  is  fully  convinced  of  the  prac- 
•*  ticability  of  equalling  Spanish  wool  in  Eng- 
**  land ;  he  has  for  several  years  tried  the  Spanish 
*'  cross  with  the  Wiltshire  breed,  nearly  trebling 
"  the  wool  in  quantity,  and  improving  it  ex- 
**  tremely  in  quality.  The  carcasses  are  reduc- 
"  ed  in  size,  but  improved  in  the  mould,  and 
"  the  disposition  to  fatten  increased.'*  I  quote 
this  from  Lawrence,  who  also  adds,  that  in 
England  Mr.  Toilet  had  gone  very  successfully 
into  the  bree-ding  of  Merinoes,  getting  his  stock 
from  Lord  Somerville.  He  mentions  a  tup  of 
his  that  was  adjudged,  at  thirteen  months  old, 
to  weigh  twenty  pounds  the  quarter,  for  whom 
he  refused  two  hundred  guineas,  and  one  hun- 
dred for  his  hire  for  a  season.  He  then  states 
the  effect  of  his  crosses,  in  the  first  degree,  on 
South  Down  and  Ryeland  ewes,  and  makes  the 
average  increased  value  eleven  shillings  and 
six-pence  sterling  per  fleece,  or  150  per  cent, 
advance  upon  the  wool  on  one  cross  only. 

The  following  opinion  of  Mr=  Toilet  merits 
great  attention.  He  judges  tliat  an  acre  of  land 
which  will  keep  three  South  Down  sheep,  si- 
milar to  our  best  sheep,  would  be  sufficient  to 
k©ep  four  Merinoes.     The  produce  in  wool  oi 


i^S  Essay  on  Sheep. 

the  South  Downs  would  be  thirteen  shillings 
and  six-pence  per  acre,  that  of  the  Merinoes 
£  S  15s.  6d.  sterling. 

The  advantages  of  the  introduction  of  the 
Merino  sheep  have  even  been  acknowledged 
in  the  southern  hemisphere.  In  New-South- 
Wales  they  have  been  bred  to  great  advantage, 
and  the  wool  has  not  degenerated.  Captain 
^'Arthur  states,  that  in  the  year  1801  there 
were  61 '20,  2l  few  having  been  originally  intro- 
duced from  the  Cape  of  Good-Hope,  to  which 
place  they  had  been  transported  by  the  Dutch • 
He  exhibited  to  the  Secretary  of  State  the  fleece 
of  a  coarse  ewe,  valued  at  nine-pence  per  pound, 
and  that  of  her  lamb  by  a  Merino  ram,  valued 
at  three  shillings  sterling. 

It  is  unnecessary  to  multiply  proofs  on  this 
head ;  enough  has  been  said  to  convince  every 
unprejudiced  man  that  his  profits  from  sheep 
may  be  doubled  by  changing  his  stock.  If  he 
has  the  means,  let  him  procure  full-bred  rams; 
if  he  has  not,  let  him  take  others  of  inferior 
grade,  of  which  many  may  now  be  procured : 
he  will  by  this  be  approximating  the  great  ob- 
ject he  has  in  view;  and  let  him  be  assured, 
that  even  one-quarter  Merino  blood  will  greatly 
improve  his  stock  the  very  first  year,  even  to 
double  and  treble  the  amount  of  his  advances : 


Essay  on  Sheep.  15^9 

besides  this,  it  will  lay  the  foundatioa  of  a  good 
stock  to  breed  upon  when  he  is  enabled  to  pro- 
cure rams  of  a  higher  grade.  The  mutton  of 
the  Merino  sheep  is  acknowledged,  by  a  variety 
of  writers  whom  it  would  be  useless  to  quote, 
to  be  of  very  superior  quality,  and  easily  fatted. 
Of  this  fact,  so  far  as  it  relates  to  the  full-bred, 
I  have  no  experience;  the  half-bred  wethers 
which  I  have  fatted  for  my  own  table  were  cer- 
tainly not  inferior  to  the  country  breed,  eidier 
in  size,  fat,  or  flavour;  they  weighed  sixteen 
pounds  the  quarter,  and  tallowed  well. 

I  have,  upon  a  former  occasion,  given  an 
account  of  the  British  sheep.  As  the  attention 
of  our  farmers  has  been  more  fixed  on  them 
than  on  those  of  any  other  country,  it  will  not 
be  improper  to  offer  the  following  short  recapi- 
tulation of  them  by  the  celebrated  British  far- 
mer Cully,  with  some  additions  by  Lawrence, 
taken  from  the  book  of  the  latter. 


oo 


170 


Essay  on  Sheep. 


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Essay  on  Sheep.  171 

It  will  also  be  of  use  to  be  acquainted  with 
the  several  breeds  of  Spain,  as  a  direction  to 
those  who  may  endeavour  to  import  sheep  from 
thence ;  for,  though  every  species  of  the  Me- 
rino is  valuable,  yet  they  differ  widely  from 
each  other  in  beauty,  in  form,  and  in  fineness 
of  fleece,  as  may  be  judged  from  the  prices  in 
Spain,  where  Leon  and  Escureal  wool  sells  for 
100  cents,  while  that  of  Aragon  brings  only 
^0;  with  several  intermediate  grades,  which  I 
have  given  in  a  former  communication  to  the 
Society  for  Useful  Arts,  Those  most  noted  are 
the  sheep  of  the  Escureal,  of  Giiadaloiipe,  Pau- 
lavy  of  the  Duke  jyEiifantado,  Montiirio,  and 
of  the  Negretti,  The  first,  for  fineness  of  wool, 
is  the  most  perfect  of  all  the  travelling  flocks 
of  Spain;  the  second,  for  form,  fineness  and 
abundance  of  the  fleece;  the  third  (Paular), 
with  similar  fleeces,  are  longer  bodied.  The 
lambs  of  this  stock,  and  that  of  the  Duke 
D'Enfantado,  are  commonly  dropped  with  a 
thick  covering,  which  changes  into  very  fine 
wool.  The  Negretti  are  the  largest  breed  in 
Spain.  It  is  from  the  last  stock  that  England 
has  drawn  he  Merinoes, 


APPENDIX. 


It  would  be  waste  of  time  to  speak  here  of 
the  long  list  of  maladies  which  attend  sheep  in 
Europe,  most  of  which  I  believe  are  to  be  at- 
tributed to  injudicious  treatment,  particularly 
in  folding  and  over-driving  them.  I  shall  con- 
fine myself,  therefore,  to  those  only  which  I 
have  witnessed  in  this  State,  the  number  of 
which  is  very  small. 

Pinning  and  scouring. — Lambs,  soon  after  the 
birth,  are  subject  to  a  disorder  called  pinning. 
It  consists  in  the  excrements  being  so  glutinous 
as  to  fix  the  tail  to  the  vent,  which,  if  neglect- 
ed, will  often  kill  the  lamb.  The  remedy  is 
to  wash  them  clean,  and  to  rub  the  buttocks 
and  tail  with  dry  clay,  which  will  prevent  any 
further  adhesion.  Lambs  are  also  subject  to 
scouring,  or  purging.  This  generally  arises 
from  being  kept  too  cold;  sometimes  from  the 
quality  of  the  ewe's  milk.  They  should,  with 
the  parent  ewes,  be  put  into  a  warm,  dry,  shel- 
tered cot:  the  ewes  should  have  plenty  of  nu- 


174  Essay  on  Sheep, — Appejidix. 

tricious  food  given  them;  such  as  oats,  old  In- 
dian corn,  and  wheat  bread:  care  should  be 
taken  that  they  nurse  their  lambs  duly,  for  it 
often  happens  that  this  complaint  is  aggravated 
by  a  penury  of  milk;  in  this  case  the  defici- 
ency should  be  supplied  by  cow's  milk  boiled, 
or  by  letting  the  lamb  suck  a  cow. 

Hove, — Sheep  turned  into  clover  too  sud- 
denly, and  with  empty  stomachs,  are  some- 
times inflated  by  the  wind  in  that  organ,  the 
orifice  of  which  is  stopped  by  the  food  they 
have  taken.  This  the  farmer  calls  being  hove. 
All  ruminating  cattle  are  subject  to  it.  On  be- 
ing affected  with  it,  they  swell  very  suddenly, 
and,  unless  speedily  relieved,  they  die.  Seve- 
ral remedies  are  prescribed  for  this  disease;  the 
first  and  most  effectual  is  to  plunge  a  knife  into 
the  paunch.  The  sheep  will  swell  most  on  the 
left  side,  and  a  part  of  the  swelling  will  be  very 
protuberant  below  the  hip-bone.  Into  this  pro- 
tuberance plunge  a  knife,  sharp  at  the  point 
and  dull  on  the  edge,  so  as  not  to  cut  unneces- 
sarily sideways.  The  depth  must  be  regulated 
by  the  degree  of  swelling;  there  is  little  danger 
of  going  too  deep,  and  the  knife  must  enter 
the  stomach  to  be  effectual.  The  aperture  must 
be  kept  open  till  all  the  wind  is  discharged, 
nhich  will  be  in  a  few  minutes.     Another  re- 


Essay  on  Sheep, — Appendix.  175 

medy  is  to  take  a  piece  of  rattan  or  grape-vine, 
with  a  natural  or  artificial  knob  at  the  end, 
covered  with  cloth  or  leather,  and  to  thrust  it 
down  the  throat  into  the  stomach.  This  will 
open  the  aperture,  and  the  wind  will  be  dis- 
charged. To  these  surgical  operations  chemi- 
cal remedies  are  sometimes  substituted,  and 
should  be  first  tried  if  there  is  time  for  it;  a  pint 
of  linseed  oil  has  been  successfully  given,  or 
a  solution  of  potash  or  common  ley:  both  of 
these  will  combine  with  the  carbonic  acid  in 
the  stomach,  and  may,  of  course,  effect  a  cure 
if  given  in  suflficient  quantities  to  absorb  the 
air. 

Purging. — Sheep  turned  into  pastures  in  the 
spring  are  very  subject  to  a  purging,  principally 
from  a  change  in  diet,  and  laying  on  the  w^et 
ground  after  being  turned  out  of  their  dry  folds. 
This  is  in  general  a  malady  of  little  conse- 
quence, and  perhaps  is  salutary  upon  the  whole, 
if  not  too  great  or  too  long  continued.  I  have 
never  used  any  remedies  for  it;  but  I  conceive 
that  folding  in  their  winter  cot,  upon  dry  litter, 
for  a  few  nights,  with  a  handful  of  hay  and 
grain,  would  check  it:  to  this  may  be  added 
salt,  mixed  with  any  absorbent  earth,  which 
the  sheep  will  eat  very  readily.  If  any  are  so 
much  affected  as  to  be  weakened  by  it,  and 


17^  Essay  on  Sheep,— Appendix. 

the  disorder  does  not  yield  to  those  remedies, 
a  dose  of  castor  oil,  and  housing,  with  dry 
food,  particularly  a  crust  of  wheat  bread,  will 
generally  restore  them. 

Scab. — The  disorder  which  most  affects  our 
sheep  is  the  scab.     This  appears  first  by  the 
sheep    rubbing    themselves    and    pulling    out 
their  wool.      As  soon  as  this   is  observed,   or 
when  loose  locks  of  wool  appear  to  rise  upon 
their  backs  and  shoulders,  they  should  be  ex- 
amined, the  wool  taken  out,  and  a  little  spirits 
of    turpentine    and    hog's-fat   rubbed    on    the 
place.    If  this  be  neglected  for  some  time,  and 
the  disorder  increases,   the   skin  will  feel  hot 
and  hard  to  the  hand;  and,  if  longer  neglected, 
the  wool  will  pull  off  in  large  quantities,  and 
the  scab  be  converted  into  a  sore,  from  which 
a  small  quantity  of  matter  will  ooze  and  clot 
the  lower  part  of  the  wool;  and  if  altogether 
left  to  itself,  the  whole  fleece  will  drop  off,  and 
the  sheep  pine  away;  but  they  will  generally, 
in  a  certain  degree,  recover  from  the  first  attack 
when  they  get  to  grass;  they  will,  however,  be 
very  liable  to  take  it  again  the  next  winter,  and 
then  it  generally  proves  fatal.     I  have  never 
failed  to  cure  mine  in  ten  days  by  the  follow- 
ing treatment.     First,  I  separate  the  sheep  (for 
it  is  very  infectious);   I  then  cut  off  the  wool 


Essay  on  Sheep. — Appendix.  177 

as  far  as  the  skin  feels  hard  to  the  finger;  the 
scab  is  then  washed  with  soap-suds,  and  rubbed 
hard   with  a  shoe-brush,  so  as  to  cleanse  and 
break  the  scab.      I  always  keep  for  this  use  a 
decoction    of  tobacco,    to   which   I   add    one- 
third  by  measure  of  the  ley  of  wood  ashes,  as 
much  hog*s-lard  as  will  be  dissolved  by  the  ley, 
a  small   quantity  of  tar  from  the  tar-bucket, 
which  contains  grease,  and  about  one-eight  of 
the  whole  by  measure  of  spirits  of  turpentine. 
This  liquor  is  rubbed  upon   the  part  infected, 
and  spread  to  a  little  distance  round  it,  in  three 
washings,  with  an  interval  of  three  days  each. 
I  have  never  failed  in  this  way  to  effect  a  cure 
when  the  disorder  was  only  partial.   By  attention 
1  have  always  prevented  its  attaining  so  great 
a  degree  of  malignity  as  to  sufi'er  the  sheep  to 
lose  more  than  eight  or  nine  inches  square  of 
its  wool;   I   cannot,  therefore,  say  whether  it 
would  cure  a  sheep  infected  so  as  to  lose  half 
its  fleece,    in  which  state  I  have  seen  many 
flocks.     In  such  case  I  think  recourse  should 
be  had  to  mercurial  ointment,  which  has  been 
strongly  recommended  by  Sir  Joseph  Banks; 
who  says  that  it  is  a  very  safe  remedy  if  applied 
with  care.     He  directs  the  wool  to  be  opened, 
and  a  streak  to  be  made  down  the  back,  and 

23 


178  Essay  on  Sheep, — Appendix » 

from  thence  down  the  thighs  and  ribs.  A  good 
shepherd  will,  however,  prevent  its  ever  attain- 
ing to  this  degree  of  malignity.  Daubenton 
recommends  spirits  of  turpentine  and  hog's- 
lard,  or  suet  without  any  other  mixture,  as  less 
hurtful  to  the  wool,  and  equally  effectual.  The 
fine-wooUed  sheep,  and  particularly  the  rams 
that  are  exhausted  by  covering,  are  most  sub- 
ject to  it;  and  in  the  fine-woolled  flocks  it  is 
also  most  difficult  to  cure.  It  spreads  not  merely 
by  contact  of  one  sheep  with  another,  but  by 
their  laying  upon  the  same  ground,  or  rubbing 
against  the  same  post. 

Staggers,  Dizziness,  STr. — ^This  disorder  I  have 
already  described,  and  have  detailed  my  success 
in  curing  it  by  patience  and  attention.  It  seldom 
seizes  sheep  of  more  than  one  year  old,  and  is 
generally  considered  as  incurable ;  though  some 
affect  to  cure  it  by  trepanning,  or  by  running  a 
sharp  wire  up  the  nostrils  into  the  brain,  so  as 
to  discharge  through  the  nostrils  the  water 
which  is  collected  there,  and  which  is  said  to 
be  the  cause  of  the  disorder.  When  it  is  seated 
near  the  upper  part  of  the  brain,  it  may  be  dis- 
tinguished; the  skull  bone  becoming  soft  im- 
mediately about  it,  so  as  to  yield  to  the  pressure 
of  the  finger.     But  having  no  other  experience 


Essay  on  Sheep, — Appendix,  179 

on  the  subject  than  that  which  I  have  men- 
tioned, I  can  say  nothhig  as  to  the  efficacy  of 
the  harsh  remedies  proposed. 

Pelt-Rot, — This  is  often  mistaken  for  the 
scab,  but  is  in  fact  a  different  and  less  dangerous 
disease:  in  this  the  wool  will  fall  off,  and  leave 
the  sheep  nearly  naked;  but  it  is  attended  with 
no  soreness,  though  a  white  crust  will  cover 
the  skin  from  which  the  wool  has  dropped.  It 
generally  arises  from  hard  keeping  and  much 
exposure  to  cold  and  wet,  and,  in  fact,  the  ani- 
mal often  dies  in  severe  weather  from  the  cold 
it  suffers  by  the  loss  of  its  coat.  The  remedy 
is  full  feeding,  a  warm  stall,  and  anointing  the 
hard  part  of  the  skin  with  tar,  oil,  and  butter. 

Tick, — This  insect  is  extremely  hurtful   to 
sheep;  it  often  reduces  their  flesh  by  the  pain 
it  induces,  and  spoils  their  wool  by  their  tang- 
ling and  rubbing  it  against  trees  and  fences. 
Lean  sheep  are  frequently  so  covered  by  them 
as  to  occasion  their  death.     The  remedies  ap- 
plied in  England  are  solutions  of  arsenick  or 
corrosive  sublimate,  and  decoctions  of  tobacco. 
The  first  are  dangerous  to  the  operator,  and 
may   occasion    fatal    accidents;    the   last   are 
hurtful  to  the  sheep,  if  not  carefully  applied; 
but  all  are  ineffectual  on  thick-woollcd  sheep, 
because  it  is  impossible  to  diffuse  tlicm  equally. 


1 80  Essay  on  Sheep. — Appendix. 

I  have  happily  discovered  a  mode  of  entirely 
destroying  the  tick,  which  is  easy  in  the  appli- 
cation, and  attended  with  no  danger.  Take  a 
bellows,  to  the  nozel  of  which  a  pipe  must  be 
affixed  capable  of  containing  a  handful  of  to- 
bacco; (the  refuse  from  the  tobacconist's  will 
answer);  set  fire  to  the  tobacco,  and  while  one 
man  holds  the  sheep  between  his  knees,  let  an- 
other open  the  wool,  while  a  third  blows  the 
smoke  into  the  fleece;  close  the  wool  on  the 
smoke,  and  open  another  place  a  few  inches 
from  it,  and  so  go  over  the  whole  sheep,  blow- 
ing also  under  the  belly  and  between  the  legs: 
in  twenty-four  hours  every  tick  will  be  killed. 
The  whole  operation  may  be  performed  upon 
a  sheep  in  about  two  minutes. 

Cold,  and  its  consequence, — When  sheep  are 
very  ill  kept,  or  when  they  lay  upon  damp  or 
wet  ground  in  the  spring  and  autumn,  they  are 
subject  to  colds,  which  appear  by  the  discharge 
of  mucus  from  the  nose  and  eyes,  and  some- 
times by  blindness.  The  cure  is  warmth,  dry 
litter,  and  good  food.  It  will  however  happen, 
that  some  sheep  have  at  all  times  this  discharge 
from  the  nose;  but,  upon  examination,  those 
will  generally  be  found  to  be  old,  and  should 
be  fatted  as  soon  as  possible,  as  they  disfigure 
a  flock,  and  do  not  pay  for  their  keeping. 


Ussay  on  Sheep, — Appendix,  181 

Dogs, — This  Is  one  of  the  severest  maladies 
under  whicli  our  sheep  labour;  it  generally 
attacks  a  whole  tlock  suddenly,  in  which  they 
run  from  each  other  in  every  direction;  then; 
wool  and  flesh  appear  to  be  torn  to  pieces; 
many,  when  the  disorder  is  seated  on  ihe  throat 
and  neck,  die  suddenly;  others  appear  to  be 
wounded  in  different  parts  of  their  bodies,  and 
die  in  great  torment.  Sometimes  the  greater 
part  of  a  flock  are  carried  off'  by  it  in  one  night, 
and  the  expense  and  trouble  incurred  for  years 
in  raising  a  fine  flock  are  instantaneously  de- 
stroyed; for  such  is  the  nature  of  this  com- 
plaint, that  no  attention  on  the  part  of  the  ow^- 
ner  can  prevent  it.  The  remedy  is  good  whole- 
some laws,  steadily  persisted  in — firmness  in  the 
magistracy  in  carrying  them  into  effect — suflfi- 
cient  good  sense  in  the  people  to  aid  in  enforc- 
ing them,  a  readiness  to.  respect  the  property 
of  their  neighbours,  and  to  sacrifice  boyish  at- 
tachments to  the  general  interest  of  the  com- 
munity. 

Method  of  bleeding  sheep, — In  inflammatory 
disorders  bleeding  may  be  necessary.  This  is 
performed  by  cutting  the  ear,  or  the  tail,  or  in 
the  temple.  The  first  and  last  do  not  yield 
much  blood,  and  cutting  the  tail  leaves  a 
considerable  wound.     Daubenton  recommends 


182  Kssai/  on  Sheep, — Appendix. 

bleeding  in  the  lower  part  of  the  cheek,  at  the 
spot  where  the  root  of  the  fourth  tooth  is  plac- 
ed, which  is  the  thickest  part  of  the  cheek, 
and    is   marked   on    the   external    surface    of 
the  bone  of  the  upper  jaw  by  a  tubercle  suf- 
ficiently prominent  to  be  very  sensible  to  the 
finger  when  the  skin  of  the  cheek  is  touched. 
This  tubercle  is  a  certain  index  to  the  angular 
vein  which  is  placed  below;  and  this  vein  ex- 
tends from  the  under  border  of  the  jaw  beneath 
near  its  angle,  to  below  the  tubercle,  which  is 
seated  at  the  root  of  the  fourth  cheek  tooth; 
farther  the  vein  bends  and  extends  to  the  cavity 
of  the  eye-brow.     The    shepherd    takes   the 
sheep  between  his  legs;   his  left  hand,  more 
advanced  than  his  right,  which  he  places  under 
the  head,  and  grasps  the  under  jav/  near  to  the 
hinder  extremity,  in  order  to  press  the  angular 
vein,  which  passes  in  that  place,  to  make  it 
swell;  he  touches  the  right  cheek  at  the  spot 
nearly  equidistant  from  the  eye  and  the  mouth, 
and  there  linds  the  tubercle  which  is  to  guide 
him,   and  also  feels  the  angular  vein  swelled 
below  this  tubercle;  he  then  makes  the  inci- 
sion from  below  upward,  half  an  inch  in  length 
below  the    middle    of   the    projection   which 
verves  to  guide  him. 


Essay  on  Sheep. — Appeyidiv.  183 

The  following  table,  designating  the  time 
that  it  will  take  to  form  a  Merino  flock  from 
one  hundred  common  ewes,  has  been  compos- 
ed and  transmitted  to  me  by  Simeon  De  Witt, 
Esq.  Surveyor- Generall  of  the  State,  since  this 
essay  went  to  the  press.  It  is  very  ingenious, 
and  carries  with  it  such  a  strong  conviction  of 
the  practicability  of  changing  the  whole  stock 
of  the  State  into  Merino  sheep  in  the  course  of  a 
very  few  years,  that  I  am  sure  my  readers  will 
examine  it  with  pleasure.  One  reflection  will 
occur,  to  wit,  that  it  supposes  the  ewes  of  the 
first  year  to  breed.  This  will  happen  if  they 
eome  early  and  are  well  kept;  if  otherwise, 
many  of  them  will  not  drop  lambs  the  first  year, 
and  indeed  many  good  farmers  are  of  opinion 
that  they  should  not  take  the  ram  till  they  are 
eighteen  months  old.  The  table  furnishes  the 
means  of  calculating  the  stock  of  full-blood  at 
the  end  of  eight  years  in  either  case.  Mr.  Dc 
Witt  also  supposes  only  eighty  lambs  from  one 
hundred  ewes,  though  in  general  there  will  be 
one  hundred  lambs  raised  from  that  number  of 
ewes,  if  they  are  properly  kept;  the  double 
lambs  making  up  for  those  that  are  lost.  It 
would  be  curious  to  follow  it  through  all  its  ra- 
mifications, and  state  the  number  of  Merinoes 


184  Essai/  on  Sheep. — Appendix. 

of  different  degrees  of  blood,  that  would  origin- 
ate in  this  flock  from  sheep  sold  within  the 
eight  years,  and  to  calculate  the  profits  that 
resulted  from  the  change  during  its  whole  pro- 
gress by  the  sale  of  the  males  and  the  increased 
value  of  the  wool. 


Scheme  for  transmuting  a  flock  of  100  common 
Ewes  and  their  issue  into  Merino  Sheep, 


en 

?3 

Com- 
mon 

^bld. 

ibid. 

|bld. 

rjbd. 

M 

bd.|| 

bd-JNo-of 

Ewes. 

Rm.  Eir 

t'.rn 

Ezi> 

Km 

Exv 

Rm.  Ew. 

Rm. 

EwIrw. 

1 

Eiv. 

Hock. 

Sold 

a 

B      b 

1 

B 

100 

40   40 

140 

C      c 

D 

d 

3 

CD 

40  40 
E      e 

16 
F 

16 
f 

G 

§ 

196 

3 

EFGia 

20  20 

32 
H 

32 
h 

6 

I 

6 
i 

K     k 

204 

4   HIK^a 

40 

40 

19 

19 

2     2 

215 

L 

1 

M 

m 

N     n 

o 

o 

5   LMNOb^c 

16 

16 

35 

35 

10    10 

1 

1 

217 

P 

p|Q    q 

R 

r 

6  PQRicde 

35 

35  24  24 

5 

5 

225 

S 

sT      t 

u 

u 

V 

V 

7 

STUVf 

22 

22  38   38 
|W   w 

14 
X 

14 

X 

2 
Y 

2 

y 

269 

8 

WXYhls 

' 

44  44 

29 

29 

8 

8 

288 

This  scheme  supposes  one  to  commence  the 
establishment  of  a  Merino  flock  with  two  Me- 
rino rams  and  one  hundred  common  ewes,  and 
that  one  hundred  ewes  will  annually  bring  forty 
ram  and  forty  ewe  lambs.     The  3d,  4th,  3th, 


Essay  on  Sheep. — Appendix.  185 

6ih,  7th,  and  8th  columns  show  the  number 
of  each  grade  produced  in  the  opposite  noted 
in  the  first  column,  and  the  last  column  the 
number  of  the  flock,  after  selling  those  referred 
to  by  the  letters  in  the  second  column.  The 
ram  lambs  are  supposed  to  be  every  year  sold ; 
the  number  given  for  the  flock  are  therefore  of 
ewes  only.  After  the  seventh  or  eight  year  the 
flock  of  full-blooded  sheep  may  soon  be  in- 
creased to  any  number  re4ulied  for  a  farm. 
The  fifteen-sixteenths,  and  succeeding  grades^ 
are  considered  of  the  full-blood. 


Having  had  occasion  frequently  to  mention 
the  Clermont  Merinoes,  I  thought  it  might 
be  satisfactory  to  give  an  account  of  the  last 
sheep-shearing,  in  order  to  show,  that  in  all  I 
have  said  of  them  I  have  rather  under  than 
overrated  their  produce.  The  prices  set  down 
in  the  following  table  are  those  at  which  the 
wool  actually  sold  unwashed. 


24" 


IS6  Essay  on  Sheep.^—'Appendix 


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